Google picks apart News Corp attack in open letter September 25, 2014 THE SPAT between Google and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp escalated yesterday as the search giant responded to scathing claims made by the publisher last Thursday that it was a “platform for piracy”. In a blog post sarcastically titled “Dear Rupert”, referring to the billionaire chairman, Google’s comms chief Rachel Whetstone hit back at claims made [...]
Lloyds sells another £160m of TSB shares September 25, 2014 LLOYDS last night announced it would sell another 11.5 per cent of its shares in TSB, the spin-off bank it floated in June. The sale of an extra 57.5m shares will cut Lloyds’ holding in TSB to around 50.5 per cent. At last night’s closing price of 280p, the offering will net Lloyds £161m. Lloyds [...]
Labour MPs speak out out against Ed Miliband’s mansion tax proposals September 25, 2014 LABOUR MPs yesterday hit out against Ed Miliband’s plan for a “mansion tax” on £2m-plus homes, which he has pledged to introduce to boost spending on the NHS. Hampstead MP Glenda Jackson joined Labour colleagues David Lammy and Margaret Hodge in warning that pensioners without the income to pay for the tax were likely to [...]
Google faces an existential risk in its EU battle – Bottom line September 25, 2014 The European Union’s antitrust case against Microsoft’s abuse of its dominant position to bundle software with Windows began in 1993 and wouldn’t conclude until 2009. The result was that Microsoft had to unbundle software from its platform, share information with rivals and pay a record €1.4bn (£1.1bn) fine. But the lasting impact of the ruling [...]
RAC float skids off the road as GIC buys stake September 25, 2014 PLANS for a £2bn float of RAC skidded off the road yesterday after Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC agreed to buy a major stake in the firm from private equity owner Carlyle Group. The sudden turnaround will see GIC become joint majority shareholder of RAC together with Carlyle, and also means city heavyweight and CBI [...]
EU banking watchdog to target banks avoiding new bonus cap September 25, 2014 THE EUROPEAN Union’s banking regulator is planning next month to clamp down on banks whose pay policies are designed to sidestep the EU’s incoming bonus cap. The European Banking Authority (EBA) is poised to take a much stricter stance than British regulators on what can count as fixed pay, the Financial Times said yesterday, citing [...]
Bend it like an Apple iPhone 6 Plus… September 25, 2014 Apple has leapt to the defence of its iPhone 6 Plus as social media was abuzz with allegations that it bends easily. The company said that only nine people had complained about a bent smartphone. It said that the iPhone 6 Plus passed stress tests. “With normal use a bend in iPhone is extremely rare [...]
Sports Direct makes bet with stake in Tesco September 25, 2014 MIKE ASHLEY has made a £43m bet that shares in ailing supermarket Tesco will bounce back after the discovery of a £250m black hole in its accounts sent shares tumbling 16 per cent this week. The billionaire’s retail empire Sports Direct has entered into a put option agreement with Goldman Sachs over 23m shares in [...]
Wonga braced for sharp fall in its profits September 25, 2014 Online payday lender Wonga is set to report profits of £50m for 2013, down from £84.5m the previous year, it was reported yesterday. The high-profile firm has been beset with problems in the past year, with founder Errol Damelin stepping down as chairman and chief executive Niall Wass quitting after just six months in the [...]
Euro at two-year low as central banks diverge September 25, 2014 THE EURO yesterday fell to its lowest value against the dollar for two years as strong growth in the US and stagnation in Europe looked likely to force central bankers on either side of the Atlantic in opposite directions. The US plans to end its asset purchases in October while European officials are set to [...]