Time Out to open Abu Dhabi market as it banks on post-Covid recovery February 3, 2021 Time Out today unveiled plans to open a new food market in Abu Dhabi as the media group pins its hopes on a return to dining out after the pandemic. The market, which is set to open on Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island in 2023, will be the company’s second location in the United Arab Emirates, [...]
US jobs bounce back in January despite Covid-19 case surge February 3, 2021 Hiring by private employers in the US bounced back in January despite a continued rise in Covid-19 infections, according to new data. Private payrolls increased by 174,000 jobs last month, according to data from ADP. Previously released figures for December were also revised to show jobs fell by 78,000 rather than 123,000. The numbers are [...]
Spotify paid subscribers hit 155m on lockdown listening boom February 3, 2021 Spotify today reported a sharp increase in subscribers in the fourth quarter as the pandemic drove demand for music and podcasts, but warned of uncertainty in the year ahead. The Swedish streaming giant said paid users hit 155m in the final three months of the year, while revenue grew 17 per cent to €2.2bn (£1.9bn). [...]
Jeff Bezos to step down as Amazon chief executive as quarterly sales hit $125bn February 3, 2021 Jeff Bezos will step down as chief executive of Amazon this year, moving to the new role of executive chair. Amazon today said Bezos will transition to the new job in the third quarter and will be replaced as chief executive by Andy Jassy, who currently leads Amazon Web Services. It came as the ecommerce [...]
Google owner Alphabet beats revenue estimates as cloud losses grow February 2, 2021 Google parent company Alphabet beat revenue expectations for the fourth quarter, but revealed hefty losses in its cloud computing division. The tech giant posted revenue of $56.9bn (£41.7bn) in the final three months of the year, up from $46bn in the same period last year. Alphabet said the figures were driven by strong performance from [...]
Covid-19: Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine could cut transmission by two-thirds February 2, 2021 The Oxford University/Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccine could cut the transmission of infections by two-thirds and a three-month delay between doses does not reduce efficacy, a new report has found. A pre-print paper published by Oxford and the Lancet found there was a 67 per cent reduction in positive swabs among those vaccinated. The research also found [...]
Pilots slam Norwegian Air over owed salaries following UK collapse February 2, 2021 Pilots have hit back at Norwegian Air after it emerged the airline will not pay outstanding salaries to laid-off staff following the collapse of its UK operations. The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) today said staff were demanding answers as to why they had been left with “absolutely nothing”. Norwegian Air last month announced it [...]
Putin critic Alexei Navalny sentenced to three-and-half years in penal colony February 2, 2021 Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in a prison colony despite widespread protests in support of the Kremlin critic. Navalny, who is one of President Putin’s fiercest opponents, was arrested last month on his return to Russia from Berlin, where he was recovering from being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent. The opposition [...]
Uber shares fizz on $1.1bn takeover of alcohol delivery firm Drizly February 2, 2021 Shares in Uber moved up a gear this afternoon after it announced a $1.1bn (£806m) deal to acquire alcohol delivery service Drizly. The deal, which is Uber’s biggest acquisition since it bought rival Postmates last year, will be paid more than 90 per cent through stock, with the remainder paid in cash. Once the transaction [...]
Viagogo forced to break up Stubhub after $4bn takeover February 2, 2021 Viagogo must sell all of Stubhub’s operations outside the US to satisfy competition concerns over its $4bn (£2.9bn) takeover, regulators said today. A probe by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that the deal would lead to a substantial reduction in competition in the secondary ticketing market and potentially result in higher fees or [...]
