Google’s #MeToo moment: Staff stage mass-walkout over treatment of women November 1, 2018 Google employees staged an unprecedented global walkout today after allegations of sexual harassment were reported by the New York Times last week. Google chief executive Sundar Pichai expressed support for the protest and said he was "deeply sorry" in an email to staff. "I understand the anger and disappointment that many of you feel. "I feel [...]
FAANGs come out to play in Halloween shares surge October 31, 2018 Technology's biggest players, lumped together as the so-called FAANG stocks, have ended their October losing streak which had left investors spooked with just one day to go. Netflix's share price saw the biggest gains out of the FAANGs grouping, rising almost seven per cent this afternoon off the back of better-than-expected results for Facebook last night. The social [...]
Hammond’s digital services tax puts UK competitiveness at risk October 31, 2018 The government has long been scratching its head for ways to address the current tax treatment of global tech platforms. Our tax code – all 10m words of it – has been struggling to keep up and adapt to a new economy that is being driven by technology, innovation, and digitalisation. On Monday, Philip Hammond [...]
Philip Hammond chooses to splash the cash in his Budget rather than pay down the deficit October 29, 2018 Chancellor Philip Hammond declared “austerity is coming to an end” as he unveiled a raft of spending increases and tax cuts on Monday. Hammond used better-than-expected tax revenues of £12bn to pour extra cash into the NHS and bring forward by a year an increase in the 40p tax threshold to £50,000. The new level will [...]
Going it alone: Tech giants to be hit by UK digital services tax October 29, 2018 Technology giants operating in the UK will be served with a narrowly-targeted digital services tax, chancellor Philip Hammond announced today. With consultations to occur before the tax goes live in April 2020, the chancellor said the move is to ensure "the UK continues to be the best place in the world to start and scale [...]
The ASA watchdog is regulating the Wild West of online marketing and advertising October 29, 2018 It goes without saying that the web has revolutionised the global economy. As a source of knowledge and information, as well as a marketplace for trade, it has created jobs, fuelled innovation, and accelerated productivity (well, it has when we’re not browsing Twitter or watching Netflix). The internet has also changed advertising. The digitisation of [...]
Stock market slide continues after Amazon fails to deliver the goods October 26, 2018 The UK stock market slide has continued this morning after disappointing overnight results from US tech giants Google and Amazon. Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG, said: “European markets are in decline yet again, with the stock market rout that has dominated throughout the month of October showing little signs of letting up.” The FTSE [...]
Google parent Alphabet ducks revenue estimates amid sexual harassment furore October 25, 2018 Alphabet edged below consensus estimates on revenue in its third quarter results tonight, despite profits rising higher than analysts anticipated. The Google parent firm’s share price fell more than four per cent in after-hours trading, as revenues hit $33.74bn (£26.3bn) in the third quarter compared with estimates of $34.02bn as collated by S&P Global Market Intelligence. [...]
Apple chief Tim Cook calls for GDPR-style privacy in the US October 24, 2018 Apple chief executive Tim Cook praised EU privacy laws in a rare speech in Brussels today, and demanded that the US follow its lead. Appearing at an international data protection conference, Cook said it was "time for the rest of the world" to get up to speed on data privacy with the EU's General Data Protection [...]
A luddite levy on online shopping won’t help the high street October 23, 2018 Time and time again over the past few months, we’ve heard prominent figures in the retail world call for a special sales tax on online companies to help prop up their struggling sector, from the Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis, to the New West End Company that represents Selfridges and Marks & Spencer. Chancellor Philip [...]