Vodafone and Three announce long-awaited £15bn UK mega merger June 14, 2023 Vodafone and CK Hutchinson, owner of Three, have announced their long-awaited UK merger today. The new group ‘MergeCo’, now the UK’s biggest mobile operator, was revealed this morning and is valued at £15bn, according to Sky News’ Mark Kleinman. MergeCo is 51 per cent Vodafone owned and 49 per cent CK Hutchinson owned. Vodafone chief [...]
Nintendo crowned ‘best value for money’ as nearly 70 per cent of Brits reduce gaming spend June 13, 2023 Nintendo’s online gaming subscription is the “best value for money” – but British gamers have spent less on products as the cost of living crisis weighs down their wallets. The Mario and Luigi creators have beaten the likes of the Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus in Indivisible Gaming’s investigation into online gaming subscriptions. An [...]
US competition watchdog follows UK and blocks Microsoft’s $68bn Activision swoop June 13, 2023 America’s competition watchdog, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has moved again to prevent Microsoft from acquiring Call Of Duty maker Activision Blizzard. The US regulator asked a court to temporarily block the $68.7bn (£54.7bn) merger, which it believes could significantly reduce competition in the market. In December, the FTC issued an initial legal complaint, saying, [...]
Telegraph and Spectator to be put up for sale as bank takes over parent firm June 7, 2023 The Telegraph newspapers and Spectator magazine are set to be put up for sale after their parent organisation was forced into receivership due to unpaid debts. The firm’s holding company B.UK, owned by the billionaire Barclay family, was placed into receivership by the Bank of Scotland after the firm failed to strike a deal on [...]
BBC announce Dame Elan Closs Stephens as acting chair after Richard Sharp’s exit June 2, 2023 Dame Elan Closs Stephens has been appointed acting chairwoman of the BBC following Richard Sharp’s departure. Mr Sharp resigned after publication of a report which found he broke the rules by failing to disclose that he played a role in getting then-prime minister Boris Johnson an £800,000 loan guarantee. The Government announced on Friday that [...]
Watch: US President Joe Biden, 80, falls over after a speech June 2, 2023 US President Joe Biden fell over after giving a speech thanking US air force academy graduates for choosing “service over self”. He said they now have the “great privilege” of leading in a world that will only get more confusing in the years to come, and then stumbled on stage after handing out diplomas to graduates. “Graduates, [...]
Phillip Schofield: I have ‘lost everything’ after the affair June 2, 2023 Phillip Schofield said he has “lost everything” in the wake of his affair with a younger male colleague and told of a “catastrophic effect” on his mind. The former This Morning presenter, 61, said the fallout from the revelations had been “relentless” and urged the media to leave his former lover “alone now”. Speaking to [...]
Netflix, no chill as streaming giant starts password sharing crackdown: ‘An account is for use by one household ONLY’ May 24, 2023 Netflix has begun its crackdown on UK and US subscribers who are sharing their password with people who live outside of their household, in a bid to stop account sharing. The streaming giant said a Netflix account was “for use by one household” and those wanting to share accounts “with someone who doesn’t live with [...]
Altice ups stake in BT – but ‘does not intend’ to launch takeover bid May 23, 2023 Altice, the French telecoms firm, will up its stake in BT to 24.5 per cent, but it “does not intend” to make a takeover bid. The group owned by billionaire Patrick Drahi is BT’s largest shareholder, and said that it will acquire a further 650m shares, increasing its ownership to 2.5bn. It comes just a [...]
Vice Media files for US bankruptcy protection ahead of sale May 15, 2023 Media company Vice has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US after bosses struggled to find a buyer for the innovative news firm. The Chapter 11 filing at a court in New York is setting the stage for the company’s creditors to take control over the business. It marks a fall from grace for the [...]