Robinhood shares surge to post-IPO high in turbulent week for trading August 4, 2021 Robinhood, the trading platform made famous by the GameStop incident in January 2021, has seen its share price surge after a disappointing initial public offering. Last week the trading app sold 20 and 25 per cent of shares to its own customer base during a lacklustre IPO which saw the company’s market cap fall by [...]
L&G and NatWest to build green retirement homes in £500m joint venture August 4, 2021 Legal & General and NatWest Pension Trustee Limited (NWPTL) have announced a 15-year joint venture to deliver 5,100 zero carbon retirement homes. The £500 million deal will support Inspired Villages, L&G’s later living business, to create a portfolio of specialist, later-living properties across 34 sites with an estimated Gross Development Value of £4bn. Robert Waugh, [...]
Chinese state media softens tone on online gaming August 4, 2021 Chinese state media has softened its rhetoric on online gaming after a highly critical article sent the value of leading tech companies into a tailspin. A piece published by the Economic Information Daily on Tuesday likened online games to “spiritual opium” sparking fears of a regulatory crackdown. In response the value of Tencent Holdings Ltd., [...]
Crypto rush: NFT market hits new record high August 4, 2021 The non-fungible token market broke records this week with 7-day sales volume hitting an all time high of $219.4 million (£157.9 million) on Tuesday. Sales volume peaked at $49 million in a single day on Sunday on OpenSea, the world’s biggest non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, making it the biggest day of trading since the platform’s [...]
Back to the office: Business groups echo Sunak’s concerns about young workers August 3, 2021 Business groups have echoed Rishi Sunak’s warning that “young people in particular” are missing out on “valuable” experience through remote working. In an interview with LinkedIn the Chancellor cautioned that remote working can be a poor substitute for in-person workplaces. His comments follow the decision to lift guidance to “work from home where possible” on [...]
Covid related deaths at highest level since April August 3, 2021 Weekly deaths involving coronavirus in England and Wales have climbed to their highest level in three months. A total of 327 deaths registered in the week ending July 23 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, up 50 per cent compared to the previous week according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Deaths reached their [...]
Tencent shares fall ten percent amid crackdown fears August 3, 2021 Chinese tech firm Tencent saw shares fall by some 10 per cent on Tuesday after the Chinese government labelled video games “spiritual opium.” An article posted by the state-run newspaper, Economic Information Daily, warned that a “new type of electronic drug” was “advancing by leaps and bounds”. Fears that Beijing might crackdown on online gaming [...]
Xavier Rolet hits back at junior bankers complaining about working hours August 2, 2021 The former boss of the London Stock Exchange Group, Xavier Rolet, has accused junior bankers who routinely work 100-hour weeks of moaning about conditions. A survey taken by 13 new recruits at Goldman Sachs revealed that surging workloads have taken a toll on mental health during the pandemic. Pleas by junior bankers to work just [...]
Grab Sales Jump Ahead of Public Listing August 2, 2021 Grab, Southeast Asia’s biggest ride hailing and food delivery group, has reported strong first-quarter sales. Adjusted net sales rose 39 per cent to $507 million (£365 million) while adjusted EBITDA losses improved by $233 million year on year to $111 million. Peter Hey, Chief Financial Officer of Grab, said the firm had exceeded its internal [...]
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp snaps up oil pricing and analytics company for $1.15bn August 2, 2021 Murdoch-owned News Corp has inked a deal to buy a petroleum analytics provider from S&P Global and IHS Markit for $1.15bn (£830m) in cash. Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), which provides pricing and analysis for the fuel industry, will become part of Dow Jones’ growing Professional Information Business (PIB) which includes Dow Jones Risk & [...]