Gino D’Acampo chain rescued in £12.9m pre-pandemic bailout August 10, 2021 Celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo’s restaurant chain received a £12.9m bailout before venues were struck by Covid closures. The money was lent by D’Acampo’s co-investors and Iceland bosses, Sir Malcom Walker and Tarsem Dhaliwal, who run the linked company Individual Restaurants. Gino D’Acampo Worldwide Restaurants owes the Piccolinos owner £12.9m, including a £7.125m bank loan taken [...]
Salesforce enters streaming wars with Netflix-style business service August 10, 2021 Software giant Salesforce has waded into the increasingly crowded streaming market with the launch of a new platform offering business-focused content on demand. The San Francisco-based company said its in-house studio had produced the core programming for Salesforce Plus, which will launch at its Dreamforce event next month. The service will look to harness the [...]
Chinese social media giant Weibo’s ex-PR director arrested on bribery charge August 10, 2021 Chinese authorities have arrested today a top communications director at Chinese social media giant Weibo accused of taking bribes. Mao Taotao, former senior public relations director at Weibo, was detained by police on suspicion of accepting bribes and committing fraud. Weibo, part-owned by e-commerce giant Alibaba Groups, said the company had fired Mao and will [...]
Robinhood acquires investor relations platform Say Technologies in $140m takeover deal August 10, 2021 Fresh from its IPO at the end of last month, Robinhood today announced to its new shareholders that it will acquire online retail investor relations platform Say Technologies in a $140m (£101m) all-cash deal. New York fintech startup Say provides a digital platfrom that aims to enable retail investors to interact with the companies where [...]
Russia launches criminal probe into two allies of Kremlin critic Navalny August 10, 2021 Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation into two top allies of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, for raising money for his political network – which has been labelled extremist. Allies Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov, who have already been exiled from the country, are at the centre of the investigation which was opened after a [...]
Three quarters of UK adults receive both vaccine doses August 10, 2021 Three quarters of UK adults have now been double jabbed, with an estimated 60,000 deaths prevented due to the success of the rollout. New data from Public Health England (PHE) shows COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective against hospitalisation from the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant, the dominant strain of coronavirus in the UK. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is [...]
Global chip crisis boosts Arm sales amid Nvidia takeover row August 10, 2021 A global chip shortage has helped drive a surge in sales at British semiconductor giant Arm ahead of its planned $40bn (£29bn) takeover by US rival Nvidia. Cambridge-based Arm reported a 57 per cent rise in total net sales to $675m in the three months to the end of June thanks to increases in both [...]
Why you should break out the tweed for the Glorious Twelfth August 10, 2021 In Britain, 12 August – AKA the Glorious Twelfth – is the first day of the season for red grouse. This is not just tradition but law: read the Game Act 1831 for further details. It is a day of great excitement and activity on our vast grouse moors, so big they account for nearly [...]
Abrdn bags AI wealth management firm in first acquisition post-revamp August 10, 2021 Abrdn has snapped up AI wealth management firm Exo for a not-yet-disclosed price, as the revamped investment company makes headway on its three-year plan. The deal, expected to be completed in the final quarter of this year, will allow abrdn to offer wealth management via an app. The investment group’s fee based revenue lifted by [...]
Real Madrid to sue La Liga and CVC chiefs over €2.7bn deal August 10, 2021 Real Madrid is suing bosses at La Liga and CVC Capital Partners over a €2.7bn (£2.3bn) deal that will see the private equity firm take a 10 per cent stake in Spain’s top-flight league. The football club said it will take civil and criminal action against La Liga president Javier Tebas and CVC chief Javier [...]
