Rupert Murdoch: This is the most humble day of my life July 19, 2011 Rupert Murdoch told a committee grilling him on phone hacking at News International said: “This is the most humble day of my life.” He and his son James were being quizzed by MPs on the scandal which has engulfed his News Corp empire and scuppered a bid for BSkyB. He said the News of the [...]
Banks lead FTSE fight back July 19, 2011 The FTSE 100 fought back on opening today with banks recovering some of the ground they lost yesterday after the Eurozone debt crisis and US economic uncertainty sapped confidence. Following a grim session the financial sector found its feet today, clawing back losses which were partly triggered by analysts criticising European bank stress tests. Barclays [...]
Greene King to buy Capital Pub Company for £70m July 19, 2011 Greene King is to buy a London pub chain, beating rival Fuller, Smith and Turner. The Capital Pub Company, which has 34 pubs, has accepted the £70m cash offer. It rejected Fullers’ £54m takeover approach last month dismissing it as insufficient. Greene King wants to expand its presence in what it described as the “attractive [...]
US regulators sue RBS over mortgage securities July 19, 2011 Royal Bank of Scotland is facing a second lawsuit from US credit union regulators accusing it of misrepresenting mortgage backed securities that it sold. The latest lawsuit filed by the National Credit Union Administration against RBS Securities Inc seeks over $629m (£391m) in damages, NCUA said in a statement on Monday. The allegations stem from [...]
Cisco to chop 15 per cent of workforce July 19, 2011 Cisco Systems plans to cut 15 per cent of its staff and sell a set-top box factory as part of a plan to cut annual expenses by $1bn (£622m) as the network equipment maker tries to revive its fortunes. The company said on Monday that it will cut 11,500 jobs, compared with the several thousand [...]
DEBT CRISIS ESCALATES July 18, 2011 ITALY suspended trading in government and corporate bonds yesterday as the release of the EU’s stress tests plunged the region deeper into a crisis that some analysts are comparing to the fall of Lehman Brothers. The panic saw billions wiped off the value of Europe’s banks and interest rates on Italian ten-year debt climb above [...]
Murdoch’s Sky role in the balance July 18, 2011 James Murdoch’s role as chairman of BSkyB could hinge on his performance at the crunch media select committee hearing this afternoon. The heir apparent to the Murdoch empire has come under increasing pressure to relinquish the Sky chairmanship following News Corp’s handling of the phone hacking scandal. Sources close to the Sky board have told [...]
Markets see fiscal union as the solution July 18, 2011 EUROZONE negotiations showed no sign of a breakthrough yesterday in the run-up to Thursday’s crunch talks on a new Greek bailout, with markets increasingly convinced that only a full fiscal union with region-wide euro-bonds will stop the crisis spreading. Politicians, led by Germany, have been in deadlock with the European Central Bank (ECB) for weeks [...]
European idiocy at heart of crisis July 18, 2011 Once again, regulators have failed spectacularly. Gold hit £1,000 an ounce today for the first time, as equities fell, Club Med government bond yields jumped, spreads increased and the fear and loathing in the credit markets intensified – and all of that in response to the EU’s banking stress tests on Friday night, which were [...]
Bankia forced to offer investors cut-price float July 18, 2011 BANKIA, the Spanish caja group, was forced to cut its float price drastically yesterday as Eurozone turmoil threatened to derail a deal seen as vital to keeping Spain’s banks out of full nationalisation. A source close to the situation reported that those on the deal were considering shrinking its size by €100m last night, after [...]
