The elegant side of the Balearics June 20, 2010 THERE is so much more to Mallorca than sun, sea and the late-night drunken menace of us Brits in Magaluf. The largest of Spain’s Balearic Islands, the 3,275 sq km atoll has mountains, lush vegetation and close to 100 sandy beaches, many of which are secluded because they are up to half an hour’s walk [...]
UK needs more creative destruction June 17, 2010 IT was Joseph Schumpeter, the great economist, who first understood that capitalism is a process of creative destruction. Every day, new firms are born with fresh ideas, talent and technologies; old firms die when they become unable to meet customers’ needs efficiently and fail to make a better use of resources than their rivals. Competition [...]
Sky Sports axed from Freeview June 17, 2010 SKY Sports News, the increasingly popular sports service, is being taken off the Freeview platform and being made available only to pay television customers. Sky has decided to use the popularity of Sky Sports News to further drive its pay television subscribers and expects to use some of the extra revenues it might attract to [...]
High class: where to go for the best views in town June 16, 2010 WITH roof-top bars and outside space in London hard to come by (or just plain wet), top floor views and cityscapes have become the next best thing and a desirable year-round alternative. This week, as one high and mighty new members’ club opens its shiny elevator doors for the first time, another is scrapping its [...]
Sky set to see shareholders June 16, 2010 NICHOLAS Ferguson, the senior independent director of BSkyB, which is facing an outright bid from its largest shareholder News Corporation, has intimated he wants to see some of the larger shareholders in the group to listen to their views about the bid price. Ferguson was travelling yesterday on unrelated business but he will no doubt [...]
This may be news to some, but Murdoch’s move is a good one June 16, 2010 Not all of News Corp’s shareholders jumped with joy at news of controlling shareholder Rupert Murdoch’s plan to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB’s shares it doesn’t already own. Some may feel it is a convoluted attempt to serve Murdoch interests rather than those of the minority holders in News Corp. Others may think [...]
Write off Tiger at your peril, he remains the man to beat June 16, 2010 WITH every day that passes and with every shot he plays, Tiger Woods appears to be looking more like his old brilliant self. The world No1 might still be a little game shy ahead of the US Open, which starts today, but he remains very much the man to beat. Who can forget 10 years [...]
Sky tells News Corp to raise its £12bn bid June 15, 2010 BSKYB yesterday told Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation it has to stump up at least £1bn more if it wants to buy the Pay-TV broadcaster. News Corp tabled a 700p a share, which values Sky at around £12.25bn, to buy the 60.9 per cent of Sky it does not already own. But yesterday Sky’s independent directors, [...]
The top team must drive a hard bargain with News Corporation June 15, 2010 THE eight independent directors charged with looking after interests of BSkyB shareholders are an experienced stellar bunch. But the group will come under scrutiny because they may be perceived as being too close to News Corporation head Rupert Murdoch who was chairman of Sky until 2007, and was replaced by his son James. The gang [...]
Apollo weighs higher Brit bid June 13, 2010 BRIT INSURANCE, the Lloyd’s of London outfit, has its largest investors’ backing to demand an improved takeover offer from US private equity giant Apollo, City A.M. understands. The FTSE 250-listed insurer on Friday knocked back a cash approach from Apollo worth £785m, or 1,000p per share, arguing it “significantly undervalues” the company. Apollo was last [...]