WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 28, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES HOLLYWOOD MAKEOVER FOR YOUTUBE Google is deepening its ties with Hollywood by enlisting top stars to supply original content for YouTube in a bid to boost profits and user engagement at the company’s online video site. Google has been making the rounds of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies, outlining plans to create a network [...]
Refresh, revive and get fit at a Swiss mountain retreat March 27, 2011 WHETHER it’s the ski season or the summer holidays, the Swiss Alps are crawling with tourists. If people aren’t whizzing down a snow-covered hillside in the winter, come summer they’re resolutely trudging up a well-marked, well-trodden path. But head to these same Alpine villages only a week or two out of season and you’ll have [...]
TRAVEL NOTES March 27, 2011 EQUESTRIAN CLINICS AT LUCKNAM PARK Country house hotels and horses go beautifully together. Now you have a chance to hone your equestrian skills at the supremely lovely Lucknam Park, the sort of place that Mr Darcy would have considered a reasonable abode. With an all-weather arena, shiny new show jumps and a cross country course [...]
CONVERSATIONS IN DARK CORNERS FOR CITY’S BRIGHTEST TALENTS March 27, 2011 THE guest list included some of the most talented young people in banking and finance – but they were still incapable of finding the party without first getting lost in the neighbouring Barbican housing complex. However, once safely inside the Square Mile World Spreads 30 Under 30 Awards at the elusive Museum of London, small-talk [...]
Going private in the Maldives, at long last March 24, 2011 For years, the Indian Ocean’s most exquisite islands, the Maldives, have been solely the preserve of hotels. Now, they’ve begun to open up to foreign buyers, thanks to new laws introduced by the pro-enterprise President Mohamed Nasheed. Before Nasheed, elected two years ago, leaseholds were too short to attract European buyers – but they have [...]
Ruia bullish on potential from India March 21, 2011 ESSAR Energy’s directors are camped out in the Deutsche Bank offices on Great Winchester Street this week, with a relentless schedule of meetings with investors, analysts and press. City A.M. found Essar Energy’s vice chairman and Essar Group chief exec Prashant Ruia surrounded by Diet Coke cans and half-eaten fruit (the schedule hasn’t allowed for [...]
An Italian affair at the Four Seasons March 21, 2011 Amaranto Hamilton Place, Park Lane W1J 7DR Tel: 020 7499 0888 FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £55 AFTER its £125m makeover, the Four Seasons is looking just like you’d imagine. It’s dripping in chandeliers, coated in lacquer and bedecked with equine sculpture. It hardly feels homely, but it does feel rich. It’s [...]
WORLD’S FIRST SOCIAL MEDIA HEDGE FUND TO TRADE FROM TWEETS March 17, 2011 WORD has reached The Capitalist of an unconventional new approach to trading: using Twitter to predict swings in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The method is the brainchild of 28-year-old City trader Paul Hawtin and his brother Simon, whose new hedge fund, set to launch in April as a spin-off of their family-run investment boutique [...]
Partygaming moves closer to Bwin merger March 15, 2011 ONLINE gaming company PartyGaming has moved closer to its agreed merger with Austrian rival Bwin, confirming that the tie-up is planned to complete on 31 March. The merger was formally entered into the Vienna companies’ register yesterday, in a filing by Bwin. The Austrian company’s shares will cease trading on 25 March in anticipation of [...]
Ice chambers, wooden baths and good health in Austria March 13, 2011 IT is the depths of winter in Austria and what am I doing? Gracefully skiing down the Alps or snuggling up in front of a fire sipping Gluhwien? No, I’m dressed in my bikini and boots, awaiting instructions to go into a sealed chamber with a temperature of minus 130 degrees for three minutes. I [...]