Facebook UK notched up £1.1bn in sales last year December 18, 2020 Facebook UK reported a staggering £1.1bn in sales last year and boasted of further growth as it increased its headcount. Revenues rose 28 per cent in 2019 from £797m to £1.1bn, of which the vast majority came from sales support, marketing services and engineering support services. The social media platform also said its advertiser reseller [...]
Nike to score sales increase on digital fitness demand in lockdown December 18, 2020 Sportswear giant, Nike are expected to report a 2.2 per cent increase in second-quarter sales profiting from the change in consumer habits during the pandemic.
Whatsapp to launch video calls on desktop in bid to rival Zoom December 18, 2020 Whatsapp is set to introduce video and voice calling to its desktop version next year following a surge in popularity for video-conferencing services. Currently Whatsapp only allows video and voice calls through its mobile app but a move to desktop calls would put it on par with Zoom and Google Meet. With over 2bn global [...]
Xbox Series X: A powerhouse machine with bags of potential December 18, 2020 There was a time when the launch of a new games console represented a gigantic leap forward – when gamers could expect to see and play titles in ways they hadn’t even conceived. The jump from Nintendo’s SNES to the N64, for instance, ushered in the era of 3D gaming, changing the course of the [...]
How Cyberpunk, the generation’s most hyped game, turned into its biggest disaster December 18, 2020 The Witcher 3, released in 2015, is rarely far from the upper echelons of “Best Game Ever” lists. Developed by Polish studio CD Projekt Red, it was a sprawling, hugely ambitious RPG that refused to offer players a neat solution to its deftly written quests. In its squalid, low-fantasy world, sparing the life of some [...]
Global emissions cuts needed on ‘unprecedented scale’ to reach Paris Climate target December 18, 2020 If the world is to reach the Paris Climate Agreement’s target of a global temperature increase of no more than 1.5°C, we need to cut emissions five times more quickly than the current rate. This is according to PwC’s Net Zero Economy Index, which delivers a stark message to businesses and governments. The index shows [...]
Google AI unit reports huge losses December 17, 2020 DeepMind, Google's artificial intelligence unit, reported pre-tax losses of £460.9m in 2019.
Gocardless nears $1bn valuation after latest funding round December 17, 2020 London fintech Gocardless is nearing unicorn status after its latest funding round amid a digital payments boom. The Alphabet-backed company announced it had raised $95m in its latest funding round led by the venture capital arm of Bain Capital, valuing the firm at over $970m. “This funding round demonstrates the strength of the business and [...]
Tide to introduce new business payroll service in 2021 December 17, 2020 Business fintech firm Tide has announced that is it to release its first payroll service via its banking app in early 2021. Tide Payroll will be HMRC compliant and will allow SMEs to conduct their payroll from within their Tide account with an all-in-one payroll service that will allow users to run payroll and pay [...]
Google faces multi-state antitrust lawsuit for ‘anticompetitive conduct’ December 16, 2020 The Texas attorney general has announced he will file a multi state lawsuit against Google on behalf of a coalition of states. In a video posted on Twitter attorney general Ken Paxton said: ““The state of Texas is filing a multi state lawsuit against Google for anticompetitive conduct, exclusionary practices and deceptive misrepresentations. Google repeatedly [...]