The Weekend Patch

Stock market & going private

Share buyback fixes

• Fixed buying back the last 1% of your company (could look like it worked but stay at 99%).

• Fixed Aggressive buyback failing in some cases.

• Fixed hostile takeover / buyback flows that could drop your ownership unexpectedly.

Buyback wizard

• Quick buttons for common targets (e.g. buy back all remaining shares).

• Clearer help text: buybacks use company cash, not personal cash, and what going private does.

Going private

• Going private no longer locks you out of the stock market (trading, Market Wire, etc.).

• Going private now generates a Markets Wire headline in the news (as it is a news worthy event!)

• Subsidiaries (racing team, etc.) stay manageable after delisting — use Manage links from the holding group panel.

• Path: Empire → Capital Markets → Stock Market → Share Management.

My Company / investor view

• Empire Portfolio only lists divisions you actually own (e.g. no airline row if you don’t have one).

• Star ratings on portfolio rows.

• Spin-offs / tracking stocks with their own tickers shown clearly.

• Your main ticker and price shown on the stock market screen; optional view for secondary tickers.

Market Wire

• New Markets Wire newspaper on the stock market (headlines, rumours, tape events, AI images).

• Earnings reaction moved to its own tab.

• Timeline of past market news for investors.

• More image variety (less repetition).

• Fixed conflicting earnings stories showing side by side.

Empire navigation

Sidebar

• Empire is its own top-level section (not under Grow).

• Split into Command, Capital Markets, and Ventures for quicker access.

Market funds

• Broad market funds investing lives on the Stock Market screen (simple tier), not duplicated under Finance.

UI polish (flat BriefLayout)

• Command, Stock Market, Boardroom, Acquisitions, and Mogul Profile refreshed to match Weekly Brief / Portfolio style (flat surfaces, no photo backgrounds).

Acquisitions & rival studios

Bidding wars

• You can bid on healthy rival studios, not only distressed ones.

• Interactive bidding war mini-game: rival suitors counter-bid; hot targets cost more, low-interest targets are cheaper.

• Distressed studios still go through bidding, usually with weaker rivals.

Easier to find targets

• Browse rivals opens a table modal (health, value, buyer interest) instead of digging through Industry.

• Click a name for full profile; start a bid from the table or profile.

• Acquisitions page explains the flow and links into it.

Requirements

• Advanced stock-market settings needed for rival acquisitions.

Paths

• Empire → Ventures → Acquisitions → Browse rivals

• Or: Grow → Market → Industry → competitor profile → Make a bid

Newsstand & newspapers

Newsstand (new)

• One place for all papers: Industry Gazette, Statecraft Wire, Market Wire, Sport Wire.

• Unlocks around week 4.

• Path: Daily → Newsstand (standalone sidebar row under Home).

Industry Gazette

• Legacy Home News tab removed; Industry Gazette is a full wire (headlines, images, filters) like the other wires.

• Old news links (Dashboard, Weekly Brief, etc.) go to Newsstand.

Sport Wire

• New sports newspaper for football, racing, golf, wrestling ventures (AI images, filters).

Contextual wires (unchanged locations)

• Statecraft Wire still on Politics.

• Market Wire still on Stock Market.

• Sport Wire still available in venture contexts where relevant.

Home clarity

• Dashboard renamed Studio Dashboard (studio/hardware focus).

• Copy clarifies Portfolio (whole empire) vs Weekly Brief (week overview).

• Weekly Brief includes a short political headlines snapshot when politics is unlocked.

Ventures UI — Racing & Fitness

Racing Team

• Full UI refresh: flat layout, team-colour accent, header stats, pill sub-tab nav.

• All six tabs updated: Overview, Staff & Drivers, Facilities, Transfers & Sponsors, Race Weekend, History.

• Path: Empire → Ventures → Racing Team

Fitness Chain

• Same flat BriefLayout treatment (no luxury photo background).

• Header stats: clubs, members, chain cash, weekly P&L.

• Pill nav across all 13 tabs.

• Map tab fixed — world map renders again after the layout change.

• Path: Empire → Ventures → Fitness Chain

Racing team (gameplay)

Fan engagement

• Fixed fan engagement getting stuck (forum report).

• Fan engagement actions on Overview (Open Pit Lane, Merch Giveaway, Fan Meet & Greet) still work as before.

Bug fixes & polish (misc)

• Subsidiary spin-offs / IPO floats handled correctly when parent goes private (tracking stocks vs internal divisions).

• Markets Wire image pipeline expanded (more topics and variants).

• Industry Gazette images use fictional generic art only

Quick reference — where did things move?