‘Bond market tantrum risks’: Gilt traders brace for Labour leftward pivot as Starmer future uncertain
Chinese tech stocks rise as its national leadership group gets an overhaul | City A.M. August 9, 2018 Technology stocks in China rose overnight after Beijing said it has revamped its national leadership group for the sector. Tasked with doing the research and planning for China’s government strategy on tech, the former National Technology and Education Leadership Group has now had the “education” dropped from its name to represent a narrowed focus from [...]
Softbank’s Indian Uber challenger brand Ola is launching in the UK | City A.M. August 7, 2018 Ola, the Indian ride-hailing firm backed by Japanese mega-investor Softbank, is bringing its services to the UK. Ola’s app will allow riders to choose from services across both private hire vehicles and black cabs, in a bid to shake things up by challenging major UK taxi disruptors Uber and Gett at the same time. The [...]
UK adtech startup Mirriad signs deal with Chinese behemoth Tencent | City A.M. July 26, 2018 London-based video-advertising technology startup Mirriad has today signed a deal with Chinese media giant Tencent. The deal will utilise Mirriad’s in-video tech to place ads in online video content, even once its in post-production. City A.M. understands that staff from Mirriad will join and pitch with Tencent’s advertising teams as part of the deal, from [...]
Sorrell ramps up tensions with WPP after resignation of Chinese director July 25, 2018 Former WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell has ramped up tensions between him and his former employer by commenting on the exit of one of its Chinese board members. Hugo Shong stepped down from the board earlier this year, saying that "additional commitments outside WPP and increased pressure on his time and availability" had led him [...]
Arabian heights: What Saudi Arabia’s upgrade means for investors July 3, 2018 It was a symbolic moment for Saudi Arabia last week when women could finally get behind the wheel. Lifting this archaic driving ban was obviously a huge milestone for women’s rights, but it also speaks volumes about the direction of travel the country is heading in. The Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been [...]
Google to invest $550m into Chinese e-commerce site JD.com June 18, 2018 Google has announced it will be buying up $550m (£415m) of shares in Chinese e-commerce site JD.com, in an strategic partnership with the goal of expanding its reach in both south east Asia and in retail services. Google joins the ranks of existing investors like the Chinese social media giant Tencent, which is JD’s biggest [...]
Big Tech must be tamed, for the sake of a fair society May 17, 2018 Just as the competitive oil rush gave way to Rockefeller’s new monopoly in the form of Standard Oil, so the internet’s infrastructure is being built around a handful of companies of immense and growing power: Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, along with their Chinese equivalents, Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu. There are real concerns that while [...]
Walmart takes on Amazon in battle for Indian Flipkart with $15bn bid May 7, 2018 Walmart is set to take on Amazon to buy a stake in India’s biggest online retailer Flipkart, in a deal worth $15bn (£11.06bn). Reports today say that the American retailer will buy three-quarters of Flipkart’s shares at a valuation of just under $20bn. Sources close to the deal told the Financial Times that Walmart boss [...]
How and why rising trade tensions have moved stock markets March 23, 2018 We explain all of the ins and outs of the turmoil in markets this week, focusing on at what might happen next with escalating trade tensions. How far have stock markets fallen this week? Global stock markets have come under pressure this week on fears over escalating trade tensions. The selling has been most marked [...]
How artificial intelligence is re-coding the way we manage our money March 14, 2018 It was 1950 when Alan Turing developed a test which looked at a machine’s ability to generate responses that were so human-like that you wouldn’t be able to tell it was a computer. Fast forward almost seven decades, and we are now at a tipping point in tech, as artificial intelligence (AI) nudges us [...]