DISNEY TO PAY $4BN FOR MARVEL HEROES August 31, 2009 WALT Disney said yesterday that it plans to net Spiderman’s parent, Marvel Entertainment, for $4bn (£2.5bn), as the entertainment empire attempts to broaden its appeal to a young male audience. The biggest media deal of the year so far will unite the Incredible Hulk and Mickey Mouse, and see some of Marvel’s 5,000 hugely popular [...]
US regulator warns brokers to cut out risky sales tactics August 31, 2009 THE head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission Mary Schapiro last night issued a stern warning to chief executives at brokerage firms about questionable incentives. In an open letter to businesses Schapiro said: “certain forms of potential compensation may carry with them enhanced risks to customers.” Schapiro cautioned that some types of compensation practices [...]
Media heads back Murdoch August 31, 2009 THE FORMER editor of the Guardian Peter Preston has said that the whole of the media industry supports News Corp chief executive James Murdoch’s view that the BBC should charge for its on-line news content. The comments, posted on Preston’s Guardian blog, follow Murdoch’s attack on the BBC in an address at the Edinburgh International [...]
Dresdner acquisition was right choice, says Commerzbank boss August 31, 2009 COMMERZBANK chief executive Martin Blessing has defended his firm’s decision to acquire Dresdner Bank for €5bn (£4.4bn) at the height of the financial crisis last year. The bank has faced criticism from some shareholders for pushing through the transaction amid such volatile conditions. But Blessing said: “We have taken the right decision and I am [...]
Regulators are stuck in the silly season August 31, 2009 TODAY is officially back to school day for City workers and businesses across London, with the last holidaymakers finally back at their desks – it is a shame, therefore, that so many politicians, regulators and commentators remain so hopelessly stuck in the silly season. As so often these days, it is Lord Turner, the City’s [...]
JETBLUE LUFTHANSA DEAL TAKES OFF August 31, 2009 JETBLUE Airways and German airline Lufthansa are hoping to offer a connecting service between nearly a dozen JetBlue US destinations and 180 international destinations in Lufthansa’s network under a so-called code-share agreement. The deal, which would allow JetBlue to place a Lufthansa code on its flights, will expand JetBlue’s footprint in the US significantly.
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 31, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES BUY-OUT GROUPS FACE OPPOSITION TO ANNEX FUNDSPrivate equity groups are facing mounting opposition from investors over their attempts to raise annex funds, which buy-out firms hope will provide fresh cash to bail out many of the companies they bought during the debt bubble. Apollo Management had been forced to drop plans to raise [...]
Citi dumps more assets August 31, 2009 CITIGROUP yesterday said it sold three credit card portfolios representing $1.3bn (£798m) in managed assets, as part of a plan to unload weak businesses and troubled assets that caused huge losses. The group, which is about 34 per cent owned by the US government, did not disclose the terms of the deals, but said it [...]
Mayor to lobby EU in Brussels August 31, 2009 Mayor of London Boris Johnson will this week urge European internal markets commissioner Charlie McCreevy to dilute measures aimed at tightening up regulation of the alternative investment industry. Johnson, who is travelling to Brussels tomorrow, will tell McCreevy that the European Commission’s draft directive on alternative investment managers threatens to drive the industry out of [...]
Germany warned over Opel aid August 31, 2009 The European Commission yesterday sent a warning to Germany on the provision of state aid to General Motors’ European arm Adam Opel, whose future may hinge on billions of euros in funding from the German government. Aid that served national interests could breach European rules, the commission said. The commission’s comments came after questions about [...]
