Microsoft says Russia was behind several major US political group hacks August 21, 2018 Microsoft has warned that Russian state actors are ramping up cyberattacks ahead of the US congressional elections in November. The software giant said it had caught and shut down a number of web domains masquerading as websites belonging to the US Senate, two think tanks and its own cloud storage service in the last week. [...]
Uber nabs former Merrill Lynch CFO as top finance boss in race to go public August 21, 2018 Ride-hailing giant Uber today filled the long-standing vacancy of chief financial officer, easing investor concerns ahead of its plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2019. The spot, which was left empty after its previous occupant Brent Callinicos departed in 2015, has been plugged by financial services veteran Nelson J. Chai. Chai joins Uber [...]
Tesla shares rise as Musk takes a back seat and Morgan Stanley joins the rumoured Tesla adviser list August 21, 2018 Tesla's share price rose as much as five per cent in early trading today after Morgan Stanley hinted at its possible involvement in discussions surrounding a transaction to take the company private. The brokerage today removed its rating and suspended equity coverage on Tesla, signalling a potential move to join Goldman Sachs as an adviser [...]
Slack is now worth $7.1bn, after raising a $427m series H round August 21, 2018 Workplace messaging platform Slack has closed a series H investment of $427m (£331.3m) from Dragoneer and General Atlantic, pushing the business’ 2017 valuation up 40 per cent to a post-money value of more than $7.1bn. The round added to the $841m previously raised by Slack from over 40 investors, including the likes of Softbank, Accel, DST [...]
Halal digital investment platform gets FCO approval August 21, 2018 The UK's first digital Halal investment platform has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority. New York-based Wahed will invest in a global portfolio of ethically responsible stocks, Islamic bonds and gold, which will be assessed by a full time ethical review board. The board will screen against funds related to excess debt, tobacco, alcohol, firearms, gambling, adult [...]
Market influencer: City brokers look for the likes as social media boosts brands’ growth August 21, 2018 Brokers are hitting “like” on companies that have strong social media engagement, as UBS yesterday became the latest to factor Instagram influence into its ratings. The Swiss bank announced that it will now track the performance of 19 luxury brands on Instagram and Google Search,tracking “social media heat”. Analyst Julie Zhuang said there is a [...]
Flying cars, AI and blockchain: These are the top tech trends in Gartner’s 2018 Hype Cycle August 20, 2018 Artificial intelligence (AI), self-driving cars and distributed ledger technology – otherwise known as blockchain – are among this year’s emerging technology trends, though some have moved closer to the so-called trough of disillusionment. Research firm Gartner’s annual hype cycle, which tracks where tech trends are on their journey from an idea to mainstream usage, today determined driverless [...]
Sage shares plummet after Deutsche Bank’s investor warning August 20, 2018 Sage shares tumbled by as much as seven per cent on Monday following Deutsche Bank’s recommendation that investors sell the stock, saying the accounting software firm faced intense competition in its mid-market. The back office IT services business, which also offers enterprise resource planning and HR software, saw shares slip to £6.19 after the bank’s advisory [...]
Luxury retail app Farfetch is heading to Wall Street for a multi-billion dollar listing August 20, 2018 E-commerce marketplace Farfetch, which is based in the UK and specialises in luxury brands and high-end fashion, today filed an intention to list on the New York Stock Exchange. No details were given on the amount it expects to raise or the offer price per share, however analytics firm Pitchbook valued the listing to take [...]
AI could lead to mass unemployment, warns Bank of England August 20, 2018 Widespread reskilling is essential to avert a future in which AI creates long-term unemployment, the Bank of England’s chief economist warned on Monday. Andy Haldane predicted that machine automation will lead to a “hollowing out” of the jobs market “on a much greater scale in the future” than during the revolutions of coal, electricity and computing [...]