Twitter confirms significant investment from Russian firm August 1, 2011 TWITTER yesterday confirmed it has completed a “significant round of funding” led by Russian technology investor Digital Sky Technologies (DST). The microblogging site said the new funds, in which several other investors were involved, would be used to “aggressively innovate, hire more great people and invest in international expansion”. It is understood DST took a [...]
Prudential hopes bumper profit will help investors forget AIA July 31, 2011 PRUDENTIAL is set to increase its half-year dividend to 7.95p when it announces robust results later this week. The firm will hope bumper profits of around £970m will help investors move on from its collapsed £22bn bid for rival AIA last year. The second quarter results will build on a strong performance in Pru’s first [...]
Rivers, Buddhas and temples: SE Asia minus the beaches July 31, 2011 SOUTH East Asia is intimidatingly rich in temptations, fascinations and possibilities. As someone who had never been, and had ten days for the inaugural journey, I had to make some tough decisions. The first one was to steer clear of the beaches and focus on culture and rivers. This may sound a bit unsexy. But [...]
Sky’s $1bn bid to placate City July 28, 2011 JAMES Murdoch survived a boardroom debate about his chairmanship of BSkyB yesterday as the satellite broadcaster agreed a share buy-back plan of up to $1bn (£611.2m), which will be unveiled today. It is the first time in BSkyB’s history that its dominant shareholder, the Murdoch-controlled News Corporation, has agreed to sell shares in a buy-back [...]
Broadband drives profits at BT up 20pc July 28, 2011 BT yesterday reported a 20 per cent leap in pre-tax profit, sending its shares up more than four per cent. Its revenues continued to fall, with a five per cent decrease to £4.7bn narrowly beating analysts’ forecasts. Its performance was driven by a surge in uptake for its superfast internet services, with 141,000 new customers [...]
The exec who introduced the iPod generation to the BBC July 28, 2011 AS the executive responsible for introducing the BBC’s iPlayer service, Ashley Highfield has a track record that most can only dream of. Launched on Christmas Day 2007, the BBC’s online catch-up TV service was an instant hit and has gone from strength to strength ever since. In the first fortnight, viewers downloaded more than 3.5m shows, smashing [...]
England can edge a little closer to the Test summit July 28, 2011 ENGLAND vs INDIA TODAY – 11AM SKY SPORTS 1 THERE promises to be an electric atmosphere for the second Test at Trent Bridge today after England completely outclassed the current world No1 side to secure a 196-run victory at Lord’s. Andrew Strauss hailed the “perfect” performance as one of the best of his tenure and [...]
Sky board to back Murdoch as chairman July 27, 2011 JAMES Murdoch is expected to get the backing of the BSkyB board today for his continuing as chairman of the company despite the various inquiries taking place into the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World while he was the organisation’s most senior executive. One or two independent directors on the satellite broadcaster’s board [...]
Directors to discuss future of James Murdoch chairmanship July 24, 2011 THE directors of BSkyB will discuss James Murdoch’s position as chairman of the satellite broadcaster at a board meeting on Thursday. City A.M. understands that a number of independent directors want Murdoch (pictured below) to step down, at least until the police investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World has been completed. [...]
Cable calls for an end to influential media moguls July 24, 2011 VINCE Cable, the business secretary, yesterday vowed to stop firms or individuals from owning a similar share of the media as Rupert Murdoch. “You know there are other big media companies who could have the same influence in future [as Murdoch] and we’ve got to stop that happening,” he said. Cable was stripped of his [...]