China orders Deloitte to investigate PowerPoint whistleblower claims February 11, 2021 China’s Ministry of Finance has asked Deloitte to conduct an internal investigation after an employee circulated a 55-page PowerPoint presentation that alleged accounting violations at the Big Four firm. The anonymous employee sent the presentation to every Deloitte employee’s email, citing incidences involving listed companies around the world and China’s own RYB Education. The presentation [...]
Microsoft ‘made takeover approach’ for social media site Pinterest February 11, 2021 Microsoft is said to have approached Pinterest over a potential deal to buy the $51bn (£27bn) social media platform. The US tech giant held talks with Pinterest in recent months but negotiations are not currently active, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the matter. The approach comes at the height of a pandemic-induced [...]
Heathrow joins calls for plan for reopening travel as passenger numbers plunge February 11, 2021 Heathrow Airport added its voice to calls to see a plan for rolling back the UK’s new border restrictions as passenger numbers dropped 89 per cent in January. The country’s largest airport said that it was vital that Boris Johnson include details of how international travel would restart when he lays out the government’s lockdown-lifting [...]
PVT Chat review – a murky story of online obsession February 11, 2021 Subcultures and obsession are explored in PVT Chat, starring Peter Vack as Jack, a lonely New Yorker living in a crumbling studio apartment. He spends his nights frittering money on online Blackjack, then spunking more on sexual encounters with Cam Girls. He becomes particularly enamoured with one West Coast dominatrix named Scarlet (Uncut Gems’ Julia [...]
Dragon Rider review – familiar animated family fun February 11, 2021 While most of the industry has scrambled to find a release strategy during the pandemic, animated family films have thrived thanks to captive audiences and a need for home-based entertainment. According to rating compiler Neilsen, Pixar’s Soul was the most watched content over the Christmas period, while films like Trolls World Tour and Scoob benefitted [...]
MasterCard plans to follow PayPal with crypto receipts for merchants, Cardano launching Native Tokens February 11, 2021 Crypto at a Glance The markets slowed yesterday, with Bitcoin and Ethereum both seeing small retraces after hitting new all-time highs earlier in the week. The rumour mill continues to grind though, with new reports quoting a ‘source familiar matter’ that MasterCard is planning to give merchants the option to receive payments in cryptocurrency later [...]
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 [...]
Commerzbank embarks on revamp as loss deepens to record level February 11, 2021 Germany’s second biggest bank reported a record $3.3bn fourth-quarter loss on Thursday as it continued to absorb the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. Shares in Commerzbank fell nearly 6 per cent in mid-morning trade. Commerzbank said it would swiftly introduce plans to cut 10,000 jobs and close hundreds of branches in a bid to strive [...]
Shell says peak oil has passed as firm sets course for net zero by 2050 February 11, 2021 Oil giant Shell today declared that it had already passed peak oil production as it announced more stringent plans to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050. At its strategy day this morning, the Anglo-Dutch firm said that its oil production had reached its zenith in 2019, and would fall 1-2.0 per cent every year. It also [...]
Bitcoin + Gold = BOLD February 11, 2021 Tesla announced that they had invested $1.5bn in bitcoin and the price duly surged. Markets are more efficient than many believe, and in recent months, the bitcoin price has responded positively to known investment flows more than anything else. Back in the day, Bitcoin would spike on news that a coffee shop accepted payment in [...]
