Oracle ‘in talks’ over Tiktok takeover as US ban looms August 18, 2020 Oracle is said to be mulling a bid for Tiktok as it looks to rival Microsoft in the race to take over the wildly popular social media platform. The US tech giant, which is led by billionaire Larry Ellison, has held preliminary talks with Tiktok’s Chinese parent company Bytedance over an offer for Tiktok’s operations [...]
BHP profits dip as it warns of contraction outside of China August 18, 2020 The world’s biggest mining group BHP has reported a dip in profits as it warns that major world economies outside of China will bear the brunt of the downturn. The figures BHP reported attributable profit of $8bn for the year ended 30 June, down four per cent on the previous year. Profit from operations dipped [...]
Markets live: US stocks slip as retail sales miss target while FTSE 100 slumps August 14, 2020 Wall Street opened lower after disappointing US retail data while the FTSE 100 languished in the red as the UK’s decision to add France to its quarantine list weighed down travel stocks. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 slipped in early trading on Wall Street, but recovered to tick up 0.11 per cent and 0.01 [...]
Hong Kong cuts economic outlook amid ongoing coronavirus fears August 14, 2020 Hong Kong cut its economic outlook for the year today, saying a recovery from recession depended on how fast it can get a new wave of coronavirus infections under control. The Chinese territory’s government revised its full year gross domestic product (GDP) forecast to a contraction of six per cent to eight per cent from [...]
Liberty Steel snaps up British Steel’s former French rail assets August 14, 2020 Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel has acquired the French plant that had threatened to derail Chinese firm Jingye’s £50m rescue deal for embattled British Steel back in March. Hayange, in northern France, used to be owned by British Steel is considered a strategic asset by the French government because it manufactures steel rails for high speed [...]
It’s time for a fresh UK-China relationship August 14, 2020 The UK needs a fresh template for its relationship with China. Central to this should be a differentiation between strategic and non-strategic areas. This would allow UK businesses to know where the government has set its red lines. In 2015, the UK and China’s relationship was red hot—a “golden era”—with President Xi making a state [...]
Apple boots Fortnite off App Store after challenge to payment rules August 13, 2020 Apple has removed Fortnite off its App Store, after the game’s creator Epic Games instituted a new way of buying in-game benefits that circumvents Apple’s rules. Epic Games has in turn initiated legal action against Apple, it said in a statement. “Apple’s removal of Fortnite is yet another example of Apple flexing its enormous power [...]
Bytedance weighs selling stake in Tiktok’s Indian arm to Reliance to ease app ban August 13, 2020 Tiktok parent Bytedance is said to be in talks with India’s Reliance about a investment in the operations of Tiktok in the region, as it seeks to end the government’s app ban. Conversations between the two companies began late last month but have yet to reach a deal, sources told Techcrunch. In June the Indian [...]
Thyssenkrupp mulls further job cuts as steel division posts huge loss August 13, 2020 German steel giant Thyssenkrupp today raised the prospect of further job cuts as it reported a €2bn loss for the first nine months of the year. The firm has already made 6,000 roles redundant under an ongoing savings programme, but finance chief Klaus Keysberg told reporters today that more cuts were being discussed. The majority [...]
The City View: Lord Barker on the ‘compelling case’ to extend the furlough scheme August 13, 2020 Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS In this episode Christian talks to former energy and climate change minister Greg (now Lord) Barker, who currently sits as executive chairman of Russian energy and metals giant EN+ Group. Lord Barker begins by assessing the current economic conditions and says there is a compelling case to extend the [...]