City Moves for 15 January – Who’s switching jobs at the Economist, Twitch and Willow? January 15, 2020 Today’s City Moves includes the Economist, Twitch and Willow The Economist The Economist Group has announced the appointment of Bob Cohn as president and managing director. Bob will lead the core newspaper business, focusing on expanding subscriptions and readership around the world, as well as developing new digital offerings. He joins the Economist Group after [...]
A tip for Dominic Cummings: Don’t hire anyone who fails to grasp the power of incentives January 15, 2020 The job advert issued by Dominic Cummings for people to work in government has attracted a wide range of comments. One particular focus has been on the sorts of skills he is looking for. Computer science, forecasting, artificial intelligence, causality theory — all these topics excite his interest. Cummings advocates a small selection of scientific [...]
Time to cull the ministers who sit around the cabinet table January 15, 2020 Walter Bagehot, one of the fathers of our modern constitutional structure, believed that the cabinet was the “efficient secret” of the British state. But what if the institution is now too large to run the country efficiently? I agree with the assessment from chief Number 10 aide Dominic Cummings that the cabinet as it stands [...]
DEBATE: Is a new ‘Trump deal’ the answer to the Iran nuclear problem? January 15, 2020 Is a new “Trump deal” the answer to the Iran nuclear problem? YES, says Ben Kelly, a commentator for Reaction. Does anyone genuinely believe that Donald Trump’s objection to the Iran nuclear deal was based on detailed analysis of its contents? No. Trump rejected it as part of his obsession with dismantling Barack Obama’s legacy. [...]
British tech startups beat £10bn funding to top global growth January 15, 2020 Investment into the UK’s burgeoning scene of tech startups grew more than anywhere else in the world last year, leaving previous records in the dust as investors sought private markets. Venture capital funding for UK tech firms reached £10.1bn in 2019, rising 44 per cent year on year and breaking the all-time high set two [...]
Marketing budgets return to growth after General Election boost January 15, 2020 UK marketing budgets returned to growth in the fourth quarter as an easing of political uncertainty encouraged businesses to splash out on campaigns. A net balance of four per cent of firms lifted their total budgets in the last three months of 2019, according to new figures from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA). [...]
The number of floats in London dropped to a decade-low last year January 15, 2020 Geopolitical uncertainty contributed to a subdued initial public offering (IPO) market in London last year, as listings fell 56 per cent year-on-year. In what was the capital’s quietest year for a decade, just 35 companies floated raising £5.9bn, down from 79 listings raising £9.5bn in 2018. The number of admissions to London’s junior Aim market [...]
Government cyber programme unveils new intake of scale-ups January 15, 2020 The London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (Lorca) has today announced the 20 latest scale-ups to join its cohort of cyber firms. The government-backed incubator said its fourth intake was the largest to date, and includes companies using automation and quantum to protect UK industry against online threats. Though the majority of businesses are British, [...]
Nickie Aiken: The country must move forward as one January 14, 2020 At times during last month’s General Election, City A.M. readers could be forgiven for thinking it was taking place in a different country. For much of the campaign the focus was far from London, with frontbenchers and their battle buses taking them through the midlands and the north as Labour and Tories fought it out [...]
Flybe saved from brink of collapse by government deal January 14, 2020 Flybe has staved off collapse after shareholders and the government struck a controversial deal that will review the regional airline’s air passenger duty contributions. Major shareholders, including Virgin Atlantic and Stobart Group, pledged to inject “additional funding” to keep the airline running. They said this would come “alongside government initiatives”. The deal came a day [...]