Is the office an analogue product in a digital world? July 15, 2020 | City Talk Reports of the death of the office are premature, but change is coming as Covid-19 means more of us will work from home in the future. The Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst, accelerating a number of global trends. One of the most significant of these is working from home, a trend which is [...]
Apple wins appeal against EU’s €13bn Irish tax fine July 15, 2020 Apple has won an appeal against the European Commission over €13.1bn in back taxes it was ordered to pay the Irish government in 2016. The tech firm was fighting alongside Ireland to challenge the EU’s ruling, which said the pair violated state aid rules in a tax deal that permitted Apple to record its sales [...]
Former BP boss Lord Browne to step down as Huawei UK chair July 14, 2020 Lord John Browne has resigned as UK chairman of Huawei, ahead of an expected ban on the telecoms provider to be announced later today. He will step down from the board in September, ending his tenure seven months early. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden is expected to tell MPs this afternoon that the government will ban [...]
Revenue soars at Ocado during lockdown July 14, 2020 Retail sales for the first half of 2020 for online grocer Ocado jumped 27 per cent to £1bn, as Brits did their supermarket shopping from home. The group reported a loss before tax of £40.6m in the six months to the end of May, citing an increase in investment to handle increased demand as a [...]
Google to invest $10bn in India July 13, 2020 Google said today it will spend around $10bn in India over the next five to seven years through equity investments and tie-ups, marking its biggest commitment to a key growth market. The investments will be done through a so-called digitisation fund, highlighting Google’s focus on the rapid pace of growth of apps and software platforms [...]
Amazon-backed Tesla rival Rivian picks up $2.5bn in single round July 10, 2020 Rivian, an electric truck-making startup backed by Amazon and Ford, has raised $2.5bn in a fresh funding round led by T. Rowe Price. The new round takes the total investment in Rivian to at least $6bn, including a $1.3bn round in December also led by T. Rowe Price. Rivian’s latest funding round was supported by [...]
Google’s Android 10 adopted faster than any earlier version July 10, 2020 Google’s latest update to its Android operating system was adopted faster than any other previously release, reaching 100m devices in five months. This was 28 per cent faster than Google’s last release Android Pie, it said this week. After 300 days, Android 10 had been downloaded on 400m devices — approximately 16 per cent of [...]
Tesla nears record for first stock to reach $20bn short interest July 10, 2020 Tesla is nearing a milestone as the first stock to ever reach $20bn in shorted shares, as its share price continues to rally. Data from S3 Partners released after markets closed yesterday showed Tesla reached a short-interest level of $19.2bn, climbing as high as $19.95bn at one point. S3 analyst Ihor Dusaniwsky said yesterday Tesla [...]
Sony injects $250m into Fortnite creator Epic Games July 10, 2020 Sony has invested $250m in the game studio behind Fortnite, giving the tech giant a reported 1.4 per cent stake in the business. Epic Games is now said to be valued at $17.9bn after the deal. The two companies said the deal will allow them to “broaden their collaboration across Sony’s leading portfolio of entertainment [...]
Financial services sector banks on a digital future July 9, 2020 | City Talk “We know you enjoy a little trip into town, but you can do your banking online these days…”: a typical multi-generational conversation as a growing number of people turn to online tools to help with their finances. Inevitably it’s not been a smooth journey. Many find comfort in the familiarity of a bricks-and-mortar bank branch [...]