Amazon’s (AMZN) cloud and online retail services to push results sky-high, while Spotify (SPOT) wanes on revenue | City A.M. July 22, 2018 After showcasing impressive sales and subscription numbers on Prime Day and briefly breaking $900bn (£691bn) in market value last week, Amazon has investors convinced of a strong second quarter ahead of its results on Thursday 26 July. Consumer estimates collated by S&P Global Market Intelligence put the company’s revenue at $53.4bn for the quarter, at [...]
Microsoft soars past $100bn revenue mark, boosted by the power of the Cloud | City A.M. July 19, 2018 Software and PC giant Microsoft had its best year ever in 2018, beating analyst estimates to score $110.4bn (£85.1bn) in revenue at a year-on-year increase of 14 per cent. It reported $30.1bn in revenue for its fourth quarter, beating already high consumer estimates of $29.17bn. Diluted earnings per share came in at $1.15 for the [...]
Chinese tech giant Alibaba makes $1.43bn investment in digital advertising firm Focus Media | City A.M. July 19, 2018 Chinese tech group Alibaba has snapped up a minority stake in digital advertising firm Focus Media in a deal worth $1.43bn (£1.1bn). In a statement, the company said it would buy a 6.62 per cent in the firm, and could increase its stake by five per cent in the next year. Alibaba will also invest [...]
World Cup 2018: Gareth Southgate and Harry Kane the biggest winners as England’s run in Russia boosts commercial appeal of key figures | City A.M. July 16, 2018 Even in defeat, there was an undeniable feel-good factor around England at the World Cup. Gareth Southgate and his team worked hard to cast aside the negativity of previous major tournaments and reach a first semi-final since 1990. And while their on-field exploits have seen them hailed as heroes, they could also lead to off-field [...]
BT investors stage revolt over Gavin Patterson’s £2.3m pay packet July 11, 2018 BT faced down a shareholder revolt at the company’s annual meeting in Edinburgh today over its executive pay plan. More than a third (34.2 per cent) of investors voted against the telecoms giant’s remuneration report. BT’s annual report in May showed that Patterson was paid £2.3m last year, including a £1.3m performance bonus, just weeks [...]
World Cup 2018: Four signs you remember England’s 1990 semi-final July 10, 2018 1. Nessun Dorma gives you goosebumps If there is a more evocative, spine-tingling opening credit sequence than the BBC’s Italia 90 montage of iconic World Cup moments soundtracked by Nessun Dorma then it should come with a health warning. Juxtaposing the stirring tones of Luciano Pavarotti belting out Puccini’s composition with slo-mo footage of football’s [...]
Sky’s the limit: Alibaba Cloud looks to take on Amazon as it talks up a partnership with BT July 9, 2018 Chinese tech giant Alibaba is in talks to provide its cloud services to BT, in an apparent bid to take on Amazon’s dominance of the European market. Alibaba already holds a cloud services deal with Vodafone in Germany, where its first European data centre is located. If the partnership with BT were to look similar, [...]
May’s gamble: Prime Minister faces backlash on Brexit plans July 8, 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May faces a crunch meeting tomorrow as she attempts to keep her party onside amid grumblings of a leadership challenge and a growing backlash over her newly-revealed Brexit negotiating position. May will meet Conservative backbenchers on the party’s powerful 1922 Committee to try to persuade them to back the plan, which would [...]
Big Four firm KPMG has been slammed by Britain’s accountancy watchdog June 18, 2018 Big four accountancy firm KPMG was slammed this afternoon for the “unacceptable deterioration” in the quality of its audit work. The industry’s watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), said the firm, which audited Carillion before its collapse in January, will now face increased scrutiny. Half of KPMG’s FTSE 350 audits are “in need of more [...]
Sport streaming: Will the trickle become a flood after the Premier League’s deal with Amazon? June 12, 2018 If the sports streaming revolution has to date just been a trickle, then deals struck between rights holders and online platforms in recent days suggest signs of a flood to come. Most notable was Amazon’s capture of a package of domestic Premier League rights last week, meaning that from the 2019-20 season English football’s top [...]