Apple turnover: Former Burberry chief to leave executive role at iPhone maker February 5, 2019 Former Burberry chief executive Angela Ahrendts is to leave her role as Apple's head of retail in April, after five years at the company. Having led Apple's retail and online stores, Ahrendts will now be chasing “new personal and professional pursuits”. It was revealed last month that Ahrendts received a total pay packet of $5m (£3.9m) from Apple in [...]
Snap shares soar as it reports minimal quarterly losses and beats revenue estimates February 5, 2019 Shares in Snap jumped more than 20 per cent in after-hours trading tonight, as it trounced consensus estimates on revenue and quarterly losses. Revenue in the three months to 31 December increased 36 per cent to $389.8m (£300.9m), beating the average analyst estimate of $379.4m as collated by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company's net loss fell [...]
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance considering self-driving tie-up with Google’s Waymo February 5, 2019 A trio of major vehicle manufacturers is said to be in advanced talks with Google's autonomous driving unit Waymo on utilising the division's tech for transport services. The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance is exploring a tie-up with Waymo in which the two parties would develop self-driving taxis as well as other mobility-as-a-service infrastructure, the Nikkei reported today. The [...]
Unilever swallows healthy food startup Graze February 5, 2019 Retail giant Unilever has agreed a deal to buy UK healthy snacks firm Graze at a reported valuation of £150m. Founded in 2008, the brand had raised just £2m from London investors Octopus Ventures and Draper Esprit before being acquired by US buyout group Carlyle in 2012. The bidding war for Graze had garnered interest from [...]
Sir Nick Clegg summoned in front of MPs over social media abuse February 5, 2019 Sir Nick Clegg has been asked to appear in front of a parliamentary committee to answer questions about the harassment of MPs on social media. The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has written to Clegg, who is head of global affairs and communications at Facebook, asking him to give evidence as part of its inquiry [...]
Apple reclaims its title as the world’s most valuable public company February 5, 2019 Apple has taken back its crown at the top of the tech heap, becoming the world's most valuable public company for a second time after losing the title last year. Boosted by a small 1.7 per cent share price rise as markets opened this afternoon, Apple's market capitalisation rose to $820.8bn (£633.1bn), up from hitting [...]
Apple chipmaker AMS warns of ‘subdued’ smartphone demand hitting revenue February 5, 2019 Shares in Austrian chipmaker AMS slipped more than 13 per cent today, after the iPhone supplier warned investors about a smartphone slowdown. The firm revised down its revenue expectations for the current quarter to between $350m (£270m) and $390m, reflecting continued "subdued smartphone demand" globally. Reporting its results for the three months to 31 December, AMS [...]
European companies suffer 60,000 data breaches in eight months February 5, 2019 More than 59,000 data breaches have been reported across Europe since data protection laws were brought in last year, new figures have revealed. The Netherlands, Germany and the UK topped the list of the most reported breaches in the eight months since new GDPR laws came into force, according to law firm DLA Piper. Read [...]
British startups hit by funding drop last year as fintech bucks the trend February 5, 2019 The amount of money pumped into Britain’s startups slipped in 2018, but fintech and blockchain investment provided a silver lining. Funding into the UK’s young companies dropped from 2017’s record high of £8.6bn to £7bn last year, according to data published today by Beauhurst. Deals at seed stage fell 15 per cent to almost the [...]
Every day, we vote with our clicks that we value Facebook February 5, 2019 With front-page headlines including “Facebook paid kids and spied on them”, “Generation of web addicts”, “Wild West Web firms facing ban”, and “Stop online giants who help kill our kids”, it’s fair to say that it has not been the best UK press week for social media firms. Poor old Nick Clegg must have thought that [...]