Sony PlayStation Network taken down after hack attack and Lizard Squad claims responsibility December 8, 2014 Hacker group Lizard Squad has claimed responsibility for an attack on Sony's PlayStation network that left some unable to log into the service. The company said its working to fix the problem and greets visitors the site with the message "page not found! It's not you. It's the internet's fault". Sony suffered another attack last [...]
Blackstone mulls £1.5bn takeover of drinks bottler December 7, 2014 US PRIVATE equity giant Blackstone Group is considering a £1.5bn takeover bid for Refresco Gerber, Europe’s largest soft drinks bottler, it emerged yesterday. The US investment specialist is among several interested parties weighing up bids for the Anglo-Dutch company. Blackstone’s private equity rival KKR and CVC Partners are also rumoured to be circling, with bids [...]
Cyber Monday beaten as Black Friday sales soar December 7, 2014 Black Friday trumped Cyber Monday as online transaction volume soared 74 per cent year-on-year, compared to an increase of just 44 per cent on Cyber Monday, showing the meteoric rise of the US shopping event. Since 2011 Cyber Monday (1 December) has outperformed Black Friday in terms of online sales, however this year’s Black Friday [...]
Clintons council estate Santa Christmas card causes Twitter storm December 7, 2014 It's December, which means open season has been declared on silly Christmas cards (just ask Tony Blair). But not until now has a card generated so much vitriol. Step forward Clintons, the card shop which has enraged a nation with its “poor bashing” festive card. The offending Christmas card The “10 reasons why Santa [...]
Yee-haw! Canary Wharf Group has a ride ‘em cowboy Christmas at the East Wintergarden December 7, 2014 Canary Wharf Group may have escaped the lasso of the Qatar Investment Authority and its American side-kick Brookfield Property Partners last week, but that won’t stop its staff wielding their own lassos this December – The Capitalist hears the group’s Christmas party has a cowboy theme. The festive do, some time in the next few [...]
Selfridges staff enjoy a Frozen Friday December 7, 2014 What’s the best way to prep your staff for a hard day of Christmas shopping chaos? Make them all sing Disney song sensation de jour “Let It Go” from Frozen, before the shop doors open, natch. That’s what Selfridges did on Friday – handing every staff member in the store a lyrics sheet and making [...]
Christmas charity: Maggie’s gives vital support to cancer patients December 7, 2014 This Christmas, City A.M. is presenting five of its favourite charities to inspire readers' festive charitable giving – our third charity is Maggie's. Each year 300,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with cancer. What happens thereafter – the questions, the treatment, the hard decisions – not only affect the patient but also their nearest [...]
Retail data to show UK spending boost from Black Friday – London Report December 7, 2014 Black Friday is expected to have added a healthy boost to November’s retail sales, which the British Retail Consortium is due to announce tomorrow. Howard Archer, of Global IHS Insight, said: “While consumers are always keen to take advantage of bargains, particularly in the run-up to Christmas, the desire for bargains has undoubtedly been heightened [...]
Business received more than it hoped for in this year’s Autumn Statement December 7, 2014 It may not be as exciting as an iPad or as romantic as jewellery, but George Osborne’s Autumn Statement last week was in many ways business’s equivalent of Christmas, with rewards for some – and coal for others. On the whole, however, the picture for the City was positive, with action proposed for some of [...]
Gimme 5: Christmas books for entrepreneurs December 7, 2014 Business Adventures by John Brooks Bill Gates’s all-time favourite business book, these twelve short stories narrate turning points for some of the world’s largest companies, providing salient lessons on money, ethics and the corporate world. From £10.13 (Open Road Media) Zero to One by Peter Thiel The visionary PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist explains [...]