Odds are on for which tech giant will actually use drones first April 15, 2014 The race to use drones is the latest gold rush to consume our technology giants. One by one the main players are scooping up drone making firms, coming up with drone master plans and picking up the drone scent where others have left off. The latest player in the ring is “Jonny big bucks” [...]
Why Alibaba’s IPO will be the biggest tech float in history April 16, 2014 Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, is on track to reach a $188bn (£111.9bn) market valuation when it floats on the US stock market in coming weeks and is expected to raise $16bn, making it the biggest technology float in history. The debut, if it reaches IG’s grey market mid-point of trading, will surpass Facebook (which [...]
Barclays fears tech firms could replace banks June 10, 2014 BANKS must continue to invest in new technologies and customer service if they want to avoid being replaced by firms such as PayPal and Amazon, Barclays’ boss said yesterday. Chief executive Antony Jenkins said customers were increasingly happy to manage their finance online and banks must give them a reason to stay with traditional lenders [...]
UK’s Netflix addicts push service to overtake BBC iPlayer and 4OD May 14, 2014 NETFLIX is the second largest driver of online traffic in the UK and Ireland, just two years since it launched, and now accounts for 17.8 per cent of web traffic. The streaming service is beaten only by YouTube’s 19.9 per cent share of traffic, according to research by Sandvine. “This rapid ascent underscores how important [...]
Hotels converted into townhouses in west London April 24, 2014 Michael Jackson’s favourite London hotel has been revived as The Hempel Collection TWO HOTELS that were worlds apart in style, concept and clientele have been brought together under one roof as part of a period conversion in west London. The Hempel Collection, a luxury development of 12 apartments and three bespoke townhouses in Bayswater, bears [...]
Supermarkets are getting a quiet boost as entertainment spend booms online May 29, 2014 In the UK, one third of our spend on entertainment – so on CDs, DVDs and games – is now done online. Data from Kantar Worldpanel, covering the first part of this year, show that one in every three pounds people spend on physical entertainment objects is online. Interestingly, 20 per cent of all online [...]
EU Commission to investigate Amazon’s Luxembourg tax deal September 15, 2013 ONLINE retailer Amazon could be dragged into the European Commission’s investigation into US multinational businesses with so-called sweetheart tax deals with national governments. The European competition authority launched its probe into the tax arrangements of these companies following the revelation that US companies were basing their taxable operations in Ireland for preferential tax arrangements. Last [...]
Sky Europe: What will BSkyB’s new TV empire look like? July 25, 2014 Sky Europe, as BSkyB has now been dubbed after buying up its Italian and German counterparts for between £5bn and £7bn, will span six countries and reach 20 million customers. With the purchase, total revenue across the new company will exceed the £10bn mark, largely driven by UK operations, and “synergies” as they say (read [...]
New York Report: Stocks rise on Fed outlook on interest rates June 18, 2014 WALL Street stocks jumped on Wednesday, taking the S&P 500 index of top companies to an all-time record after the Federal Reserve promised to keep in place low interest rates until 2015 and forecast a moderate growth in the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 98.13 points, or 0.58 per cent, to end at [...]
The Marks & Spencer AGM: Shareholders vent frustration as promises fail to deliver July 8, 2014 “We'll be home by Christmas!” That tragically optimistic prediction made by soldiers marching off to war in 1914 jumped to mind yesterday when Marks & Spencer boss Marc Bolland stood up in front of shareholders at a hall within Wembley Stadium and pledged to have the website returning to growth in time to enjoy [...]