Fintech firm Wise confirms plans for London stock market float June 17, 2021 Fintech favourite Wise has confirmed plans to go public in what will be the first direct listing of a tech firm in London. The payments group, formerly known as Transferwise, said it has been profitable since 2017 and sales hit £421m this year. In 2021 the app moved £54.4bn across borders for 6m customers. The [...]
Tiktok owner Bytedance doubles revenue as lockdown fuels viral videos June 17, 2021 The Chinese owner of Tiktok saw its revenue more than double last year as the pandemic drove up interest in the wildly-popular viral video app. In a memo to employees Bytedance said its revenue grew 111 per cent to $34.3bn (£25bn) in 2020, while gross profit rose 93 per cent to $19bn. Bytedance had roughly [...]
Dr Martens pays back furlough money after pandemic sales surge June 17, 2021 Dr Martens has handed back money borrowed under the Covid furlough scheme after reporting strong revenue growth in its first results as a publicly-listed company. The British bookmaker said it received £1.3m under the government’s job retention scheme in the early part of the pandemic, but had since returned the funds. It came as the [...]
Ofcom flooded with GB News complaints amid advertising boycott June 17, 2021 Ofcom has been hit with a flood of complaints over GB News’ opening night, piling pressure on the channel amid an advertising boycott. The media watchdog received 373 complaints about a programme hosted by Dan Wootton on Sunday night. During a monologue in his inaugural show, the former Sun executive editor railed against Covid lockdowns, [...]
Tech hiring hits fresh high amid bumper foreign investment June 17, 2021 Hiring in the tech sector has surged to its highest level in five years as venture capital investment booms despite the impact of the pandemic. Since February tech jobs vacancies have consistently topped 100,000, while open roles rose to 132,000 in one week in May. Hiring is now at its highest level since 2016, having [...]
Reality TV stars named and shamed in social media ads crackdown June 17, 2021 Four reality TV stars have been named and shamed by the advertising watchdog as part of a crackdown on influencers flouting ad rules on their social media profiles. Geordie Shore star Chloe Ferry, X Factor reject-turned Playboy model Chloe Khan, bodybuilder Jodie Marsh and Towie’s Lucy Mecklenburgh are the first influencers to be named on [...]
Addison Lee becomes London’s largest taxi firm with ComCab deal June 16, 2021 Addison Lee has inked a deal to acquire black cab operator ComCab, creating the capital’s largest private hire and taxi firm. Under the terms of the deal, Addison Lee will purchase the London operations of ComCab, City Fleet Networks and Flightlink International from the ComfortDelGro Corporation. The combined company will have over 7,000 vehicles, making [...]
Lina Khan: How America’s answer to Margrethe Vestager plans to take on Big Tech June 16, 2021 Since taking over as European Commissioner for Competition in 2014, Margrethe Vestager has made her mission clear: to crack down on the ballooning power of Big Tech. The ruthless competition czar has undoubtedly delivered on those ambitions, handing down high-profile fines running into the tens of billions of euros against the likes of Facebook, Apple, [...]
Made.com shares fall after £775m London IPO June 16, 2021 Shares in Made.com fell in their debut this morning after the furniture retailer listed in a £775m London initial public offering. The online furniture brand, which has enjoyed rapid sales growth during the pandemic, set its offer price at 200p per share. This will give the company a market capitalisation of roughly £775m. It was [...]
Music fund Hipgnosis to raise £150m for song-buying spree June 16, 2021 Hipgnosis is set to raise a further £150m through a share placing as the music royalties firm continues to cash in on the booming value of song rights. The London-listed company today said it will raise the funds through the placing of 124m new shares priced at 121p each. This represents a 2.4 per cent [...]
