Hong Kong stock exchange chief exec Charles Li writes to Santa to lament loss of Alibaba IPO December 22, 2014 Writing a letter to Santa: At primary school it’s expected, for early teens it’s understandable, for sixth formers it’s a little strange. But for the chief executive of one of the world’s biggest stock exchanges it’s downright bizarre and just a bit bonkers. Charles Li, chief executive of the Hong Kong stock exchange [...]
The hour-long lunch break: Is it worth taking? December 15, 2014 Even well-known executives aren’t afraid to take some “me time”. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have been known to take them together. The French often take twice as long as the rest of us (and the Italians longer still), while 20 per cent of Brits claim not to take one at all, according to [...]
23 pictures that sum up 2014 December 15, 2014 The year is drawing to an end so it's time to take a look back at 2014 in pictures. In January, workers at the French Goodyear factory went on strike and then took two executives hostage after it was announced that the company was going to close the plant, with the loss of more [...]
Snap! Instagram leaves Twitter in the dust with 300m daily users December 10, 2014 FACEBOOK’S photo-sharing service, Instagram, yesterday said it now had more than 300m users sharing over 70m photos and videos each day. Meanwhile, microblogging service Twitter, which recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, reaching a valuation of $23.4bn (£14.8bn), had just 284m active users, according to its website. Instagram, bought by Facebook in April [...]
Manchester United share price plummets as club announces player spending in “near term” December 9, 2014 Manchester United’s share price plummeted by over nine per cent on the US stock exchange this morning, after Edward Glazer put 3m of his shares up for sale and the club confirmed further spending on players in the “near term”. After markets in the US closed yesterday Edward Glazer, one of Malcolm Glazer’s six [...]
Intercontinental Exchange exits stake in Euronext with share sale December 8, 2014 INTERCONTINENTAL Exchange (ICE) yesterday announced it was selling its final stake in Euronext, pricing the placement of 4.2m shares. The shares, representing approximately six per cent of Euronext’s share capital, are to be sold by way of an accelerated book-building to institutional investors, at a price of €23 each. ICE said it expected the gross [...]
What the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s October meeting tell us November 19, 2014 The minutes from the Federal Reserve's October 28 – 29 meeting showed little debate between its members on the key aspects of last month's statement. Last month, the Fed stuck to its pledge to keep interest rates near zero for a "considerable time" but gave little indication as to when interest rates would raise. [...]
Christmas countdown: The best shopping destinations in London, from Tiffany’s on Old Bond St to the Hyper Japan market at Olympia November 11, 2014 London is renowned as one of the great shopping centres of the world, a constantly evolving playground for anyone with money to spend and time to spend it. Whether you’re looking for hip new openings – like those from Bally, Richard James and Hackett – or stalwarts that are guaranteed to come up with [...]
Alibaba share price rises to record high as company now worth over $100bn more than Amazon November 4, 2014 Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw its shares rose to a record high yesterday of $106.07 after it reported strong second-quarter results and said it would invest for the long term to expand its customer base. It was Alibaba’s maiden quarterly results since its $25bn (£15.6bn) float on the New York Stock Exchange in September, when [...]
Burger King share price jumps following rise in sales growth and net income November 4, 2014 In contrast to its catchphrase, Burger King did not have things its own way during its third quarter. The fast food company posted figures today showing a net loss of $23.5m in the three months ended 30 September 2014. However, adjusted net income (which excludes tax and other payments) stood at $96.4m, an [...]