Facebook poaches top social media regulator from Ofcom April 29, 2020 Facebook has ramped up its defence against upcoming social media regulation by poaching a top executive from media watchdog Ofcom. Tony Close, Ofcom’s director of content standards, has been closely involved in drawing up rules to regulate tech giants such as Google and Facebook amid rising concern about online harms. The government is set to [...]
Crypto data provider Skew launches trading platform as it raises $5m April 29, 2020 Skew, a data analytics platform for crypto, has today launched a trading platform after a $5m funding round led by Octopus Ventures. Skew Trading is a partnership with Kyte Broking focused on attracting institutional traders entering the crypto world. Skew is initially focusing on OTC execution of Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) block trades for bitcoin [...]
Raab rebuffs calls to release coronavirus lockdown ‘exit strategy’ April 29, 2020 Dominic Raab has said the government will not publish any plans for how the UK will ease the coronavirus lockdown until next week at the earliest. Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) today, Raab said the government was still waiting for the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) to give its guidance on how to [...]
Barclays boss: Government prepared to go ‘well beyond’ £330bn in business support April 29, 2020 Barclays boss Jes Staley has said that the government is prepared to go “well beyond” its initial £330bn coronavirus business rescue package, labelling its efforts so far “an extraordinary tsunami”. Speaking to analysts this morning, Staley said: ‘£330bn was a first indicative number, but I think it’s pretty clear that they are willing to go [...]
Spotify grows user numbers as Covid-19 hits advertising revenue April 29, 2020 Spotify today reported a sharp rise in user numbers for the first quarter as coronavirus lockdown measures sparked a huge shift in listening habits around the globe. The streaming service posted a 31 per cent year on year growth in monthly active users to 286m. The figures, which were in line with expectations, marked the [...]
Employers call for government to extend furlough scheme to avoid job cuts April 29, 2020 Employers want the government to extend its worker furlough scheme to September and make it more flexible to help avoid a wave of redundancies. A survey by the Chartered Insitute of Personnel and Decelopment (CIPD) found 60 per cent of employers thought extending the furlough scheme to September was the most important labour market policy [...]
Airbus profit halves amid ‘gravest crisis’ in aviation history April 29, 2020 Aerospace giant Airbus saw its profit halve in the first quarter as it faced up to what its chief executive labelled the “gravest crisis” in aviation history. The spread of coronavirus has led to widespread grounding of flights around the world, prompting the French-German firm’s orders to plummet. In the first quarter, the company’s profit [...]
Elon Musk calls for end of lockdown ahead of Tesla first quarter earnings April 29, 2020 Billionaire Tesla boss Elon Musk today called for the end of the US coronavirus lockdown ahead of the electric car company’s first quarter results tonight. Musk tweeted: “FREE AMERICA NOW” and separately tweeted “give people their freedom back!” He also tweeted a story about the relaxation of lockdown in Texas with the comment: “Bravo Texas!” [...]
A new economic era beckons after this crisis April 29, 2020 Current events likely mark a turning point in economic policy and the end of a 40-year spell of free market capitalism. Nobody can know how long the Covid-19 crisis will last, but I think that regardless of this it will mark a profound long-term change in economic policy. It is likely a turning point in [...]
Waitrose hires ex-Sainsbury’s director as new boss April 29, 2020 Waitrose has appointed former Sainsbury’s buying director James Bailey as its new boss to steer the supermarket through the coronavirus crisis. Bailey, who worked for Sainsbury’s for 18 years, will join the John Lewis Partnership as an executive director today and will be responsible for managing the supermarket’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. He will [...]
