Wednesday newspaper round-up: Subway, Waitrose, Royal Mail

Fast-food chain Subway has put itself on the menu – announcing on Tuesday it is exploring a possible sale of its business after 58 years of family control. After years of rapid growth, rising costs and mounting competition from rivals have taken their toll on the company in recent years, but it still has more than 37,000 restaurants in over 100 countries – making it one of the largest chains in the world. – Guardian

It has long had the reputation as Britain’s most luxurious supermarket. But even Waitrose customers are being squeezed by the cost of living crisis, leading to the store slashing the prices of some of its own-brand basics. Almost a third of items in the high-end grocer’s Essential range will have their costs cut – including coffee, carrots and butter. – Guardian

Royal Mail spurned an “absurd” £66m ransom demand from a gang of Russia-linked hackers, a cache of online chats has revealed. Directors rejected an ultimatum from the Lockbit ransomware group after it blocked international mail shipments by breaking into Royal Mail's software, according to information that the gang has released on the dark web. – Telegraph

Two former record label executives with private equity backing have launched a rival to Hipgnosis Songs Fund and have snapped up the rights to tracks by artists including Robbie Williams and LeAnn Rimes. Bella Figura Music was set up last year by Alexi Cory-Smith and Neelesh Prabhu, who previously worked at BMG UK, the music publisher and record label. – The Times

Workers outside London who have shorter commutes on public transport are returning to their offices more frequently. Regional Reit, which owns 156 office buildings from Eastleigh to Glasgow, said that virtually all its tenants were back in their offices for at least part of the week. Of the company’s 1,042 tenants, only 12 had not bothered to start working from their offices again. Two of those were Scottish government departments, it said. – The Times