Walt Disney buys Maker March 24, 2014 WALT Disney has agreed to buy Maker Studios, which supplies online video content to YouTube, for up to $950m (£576m). Disney, which is based in California, will pay $500m, plus up to $450m based on performance targets, according to a statement yesterday. Maker helps produce and distribute videos to over 380m subscribers worldwide across more [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 25 March 2014 March 24, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Russia braced for £70bn in outflows The Russian government is braced for the country’s capital outflows to soar to $70bn in the first three months of the year as investors seek cover from the fallout of President Vladimir Putin’s Ukrainian land grab. Andrei Klepach, Russia’s deputy economy minister, said capital outflows in the [...]
G7 leaders shun Sochi as last troops leave Crimea March 24, 2014 LEADERS of the world’s biggest democracies cut Russia out of their meetings for the first time in 16 years, in protest at its annexation of Crimea. The G7 nations refused to meet with Russia in Sochi as had previously been planned, instead gathering in The Hague. And the group of major economies threatened to step [...]
Box joins flood of tech firms listing stock with $250m float March 24, 2014 ONLINE storage site Box last night announced its intention to float on the New York Stock Exchange. The cloud-based business wants to raise $250m (£151.5m) in the initial public offering (IPO). Box has more than 25m registered users and 34,000 paying organisations, and its revenues are soaring – it brought in $124.2m in the 12 [...]
Phones4U’s swoop to gatecrash Dixons-Carphone deal hits shares March 24, 2014 TRADERS hung up on Carphone Warehouse yesterday after it emerged the firm’s merger target Dixons had been flirting with rival outfit Phones4U. Shares in the business fell 4.83 per cent due to fears a potential £3.8bn tie-up between Carphone and Dixons was under threat. It came after reports that UK private equity firm BC Partners [...]
Japanese bank Sumitomo eyes RBS’s Citizens brand in the US March 24, 2014 RBS’s AMERICAN bank Citizens could be sold to Japanese lender Sumitomo Mitsui after the pair held talks about the unit. The bailed-out bank’s main plan is to float Citizens on the stock market in an initial public offering (IPO), starting this year and completing in 2016. Such a sale would follow the path taken by [...]
French bounce keeps Eurozone growth on track March 24, 2014 FRENCH firms have reported an unexpected burst of growth this month, while German companies suggested a slowdown in Europe’s powerhouse economy’s expansion. Purchasing managers’ indexes (PMI) from data firm Markit indicate that growth in the Eurozone is broadly unchanged from February: the headline PMI figure was down 0.1 points to 53.2 in March, marginally above [...]
Bottom Line: Time to stop throwing good money after bad March 24, 2014 WHEN stressed out, at-odds parents are involved in a heated dispute of their own, the last thing they need is their naughtiest child barging in and asking for cash. But that’s what happened to the Co-op Group yesterday, when its flailing bank subsidiary came knocking for another £120m to prop up its losses – on [...]
UK ministers failed to block any opposed EU moves for 18 years March 24, 2014 EACH time since 1996 that the UK has voted no to a proposal at the EU’s Council of Ministers the measure has gone on to become British law, according to research by eurosceptic campaign group Business for Britain. A note released by the group this morning claims that none of the 55 no votes from [...]
Five of Madoff’s aides convicted March 24, 2014 FIVE of Bernie Madoff’s aides were convicted yesterday of helping the fraudster hide his giant ponzi scheme. Back office manager Daniel Bonventre, portfolio managers Annette Bongiorno and Joann Crupi, and computer programmers Jerome O’Hara and George Perez were found guilty on charges including securities fraud and conspiracy to defraud clients.
