Publisher Future given bloody nose over executive pay as profit surges February 11, 2021 Publishing group Future has suffered an investor revolt over executive pay, even as the magazine giant shrugged off the pandemic to post a sharp rise in profit. The board of Future, which owns titles such as Four Four Two and Country Life, has pushed through a controversial new pay scheme that could see chief executive [...]
Entain doubles down on £250m Enlabs bid despite investor backlash February 11, 2021 Ladbrokes owner Entain has doubled down on its £250m cash bid for Swedish rival Enlabs despite complaints from one of the company’s largest shareholders. In a statement today Entain said it was extending the deadline for its offer of 40 Swedish krona per share until 18 March. The gambling group said it had filed applications [...]
Relx hikes dividend but warns on exhibitions recovery February 11, 2021 Relx today said it plans to lift its full-year dividend by three per cent after growth in its core analytics business offset a sharp decline in exhibitions. The FTSE 100 group said it had enjoyed continued growth in its science, legal and risk divisions, which make up 95 per cent of its revenue. This mitigated [...]
BBC makes editorial director Kamal Ahmed redundant in board overhaul February 10, 2021 The BBC has made editorial director Kamal Ahmed redundant in a major overhaul of its leadership that has also left the corporation in breach of its own diversity rules. Fran Unsworth, director of BBC News, today said the number of board members will be cut from 11 to eight as part of plans to “modernise” [...]
Businesses left in the lurch as up to £1.4bn of Covid-19 grants still unpaid February 10, 2021 Local authorities across England are still yet to pay out as much as £1.4bn in emergency Covid-19 grants, putting thousands of businesses at risk of further job cuts. Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request revealed that an estimated 87 per cent of the £1.6bn Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) fund still has not been [...]
Tiktok’s forced sale to Oracle halted as Biden reviews China policy February 10, 2021 Tiktok’s sale of its US business to Oracle and Walmart has reportedly been put on ice as President Joe Biden reviews the Trump administration’s crackdown on Chinese firms. The video platform had been forced into offloading its American unit by former president Trump, who argued user data could be shared with Beijing. Tiktok has always [...]
Google to pay UK publishers for news as global pressure mounts February 10, 2021 Google has inked a licensing deal with more than 120 UK publications as pressure mounts on tech giants to pay publishers for news. The launch of Google News Showcase, part of the company’s pledge to invest $1bn (£750m) in news worldwide, means publishers will be paid for excerpts that appear in its search results. The [...]
Huawei launches legal challenge against US national security threat label February 10, 2021 Huawei has mounted a legal challenge against the decision to designate the telecoms giant a threat to US national security due to its alleged ties to Beijing. In June the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formally labelled Huawei and ZTE as security threats, blocking US firms from purchasing equipment from the companies. In December it blocked [...]
UK launches new body to oversee booming cybersecurity sector February 9, 2021 The government has launched a new independent body to oversee standards in the UK’s booming cybersecurity sector. Britain’s £8.3bn cyber sector has enjoyed continued growth during the pandemic, as a shift to homeworking has encouraged businesses and individuals to sharpen up their online sector. The government said the new UK Cyber Security Council, launched to [...]
Twitter, Uber and Disney: What to expect in the latest round of tech earnings February 9, 2021 Twitter, Uber and Disney will all be under the spotlight as they report fourth-quarter earnings this week. Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google (known as the FAANGs) all closed the year with bumper results as the tech titans continued to cash in on the pandemic. But it will be a more complicated picture for Twitter, [...]
