WPP shares rise as it bags bumper Intel account March 3, 2020 Shares in WPP rose more than three per cent this morning after Intel selected one of the ad giant’s companies as its global creative agency of record. VMLY&R is set to take the lion’s share of Intel’s global creative account, which is estimated at $1.4bn (£1.1bn), according to industry sources. The deal, which is thought [...]
How your old laptop could change a life March 3, 2020 At a late age I found myself homeless. I was homeless for 15 years.” This statement may sound shocking, but for Ann, this was reality — until she became a member of Thames Reach’s Step-Up project. The Step-Up project is a free support service helping low-paid Londoners progress into better paid work. As Dominika Milowka, [...]
Alphabet’s Waymo nabs $2.25bn in first external funding round March 2, 2020 Waymo, the self-driving unit of Alphabet, said tonight it has raised $2.25bn (£1.76bn) in its first external investment round. In addition to Alphabet, investors included car parts supplier Magna International, US dealership chain Autonation, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and three large investment firms: Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. Alphabet [...]
Micro Focus shelves $1.4bn loan deal due to coronavirus March 2, 2020 One of the UK’s largest listed technology companies has delayed a $1.4bn debt sale due to market uncertainty caused by the coronavirus. Micro Focus had been working on plans for the $1.4bn loan — which had initially supported the acquisition of Hewlett-Packard’s enterprise software division — for two weeks. The decision follows in the wake [...]
Coronavirus jeopardises Airbnb stock market listing March 2, 2020 Airbnb’s much-anticipated float could be in danger following the outbreak of the rapidly spreading coronavirus. Airbnb has been working towards floating on the stock market this year and was looking to start the process in March or April, according to Bloomberg sources. It could now be pushed back as consumers and businesses cancel travel plans [...]
Twitter shares jump as Elliott makes move to oust founder Jack Dorsey March 2, 2020 Shares in Twitter rose more than eight per cent in early trading in New York this afternoon after it emerged an activist investor has launched a bid to oust founder Jack Dorsey. Elliott Management has built up a stake in the social media firm and has nominated four directors to its board. The New York-based [...]
Twitter bans ‘non-critical’ business travel over coronavirus fears March 2, 2020 Twitter has rolled out a ban on all “non-critical” business travel and events as the social media firm ramps up its health precautions amid the coronavirus outbreak. In a blog post published yesterday, Twitter’s chief HR officer Jennifer Christie said the company had informed staff of the new measures at the end of last week. [...]
City Pages: Behind the scenes at Facebook, the secret lives of extremists and a Silicon Valley memoir March 1, 2020 Facebook: The Inside Story by Steven Levy Review by Emily Nicolle In the past four years, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s world has been turned upside down. From a simple social media platform he created while studying at Harvard university first blossomed a networking supersite, that later became a regulatory and ethical data minefield which holds [...]
Arm sells cybersecurity business to Tory donor’s private equity firm March 1, 2020 British chipmaker Arm has sold its cybersecurity division Trustonic to a private equity firm run by Tory party donor Edmund Lazarus. EMK Capital last week announced it had snapped up the cyber firm from Arm and Gemalto, a Dutch cyber firm now owned by Thales Group. Trustonic, which was was founded in 2012 as a [...]
Activist Elliott builds Twitter stake as it plots ousting of Jack Dorsey March 1, 2020 Activist investor Elliott Management has built up a stake in Twitter in a bid to oust the social media site’s founder Jack Dorsey as chief executive. The New York-based hedge fund, founded by billionaire Paul Singer, has nominated four directors to Twitter’s board, Bloomberg reported. Elliott is also said to be plotting the removal of [...]