Spotify begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange amid Wall Street tech rout April 3, 2018 Music streaming service Spotify began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today at $165.90 (£117), a 34 per cent increase on the initial set reference price. The opening price puts the company’s value at nearly $30bn, making it one of the largest US listings for a tech company in history. The public listing [...]
Mark Zuckerberg hits back at Tim Cook after Apple CEO criticises Facebook’s data collection April 2, 2018 Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has pushed back against Apple CEO Tim Cook’s latest criticism of the social media giant, calling the critique “extremely glib and not aligned with the truth”. The comments come after Cook called out the Facebook’s business model as a scheme to monetise users. Zuckerberg made the comments in an interview with [...]
Facebook unveils privacy changes in bid to become more transparent after Cambridge Analytica scrutiny March 28, 2018 Facebook said today it will be making its privacy tools easier to find in a bid to boost transparency and improve trust after last week’s furore over the revelations involving Cambridge Analytica. The firm has been embroiled in controversy with Facebook over allegedly using the personal data of 50m users to influence the 2016 US [...]
The EU’s misguided tax on tech giants is doomed to fail March 27, 2018 Amid the moral panic about “tech giants”, trust the European Union to lead the way with a ham-fisted proposal to “level the playing field”. Politicians on the continent have worried for years about the tax planning of these (usually American) super-firms. Last week, they issued a proposal to deal with the perceived problem: allow individual [...]
Tesla billionaire Elon Musk deletes his brands from Facebook as Cambridge Analytica offices raided March 24, 2018 Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has deleted his Tesla and SpaceX brands from Facebook, following accusations that data firm Cambridge Analytica used data harvested from the social networking site to influence elections. In response to Twitter users calling for people to delete Facebook, Musk tweeted: “What’s Facebook?” When challenged to remove his own brands’ pages from [...]
Artemis: Investing for income March 23, 2018 On Britain’s railways, a double yellow light is an instruction to exercise “preliminary caution”. On seeing it, a train driver should continue to move forward but be prepared to begin slowing at the next signal; there may be an obstruction ahead. These are the conditions under which investors seeking income currently operate. Financial assets in [...]
Jaguar Land Rover reveals electric car software tie-up with Blackberry March 22, 2018 Blackberry is to provide the software for Jaguar Land Rover's next-generation electric vehicles, it was announced this morning. BlackBerry will provide its infotainment and security software to JLR, which is owned by India conglomerate Tata. The Canadian firm has agreed similar agreements with Qualcomm, Baidu and Aptiv. With a legacy as a hardware maker, Blackberry [...]
Tesla share price rises as stockholders approve Elon Musk’s $2.6bn compensation plan March 21, 2018 Tesla shareholders have approved a proposal to award chief executive Elon Musk with stock options valued at $2.6bn (£1.8bn) at a special meeting today. The windfall does not include a salary or cash bonus, so it relies on a rise in the company’s market value over the next decade. Shares in the company rose 3.42 [...]
Elon Musk’s $2.6bn pay package rejected by US pension giant ahead of crunch shareholder vote March 21, 2018 One of US’ biggest pension funds will vote against Tesla chief exec Elon Musk’s $2.6bn pay package, as shareholders prepare for a crunch vote later today. The Californian State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) said Musk’s 12-tranche stock award was “just too great” in diluting other shareholders. Tesla is due to hold its AGM later today. [...]
SimplyBiz is set to float for £130m on the Aim market of the London Stock Exchange March 16, 2018 The SimplyBiz Group, which provides compliance and business services to financial advisers, had announced it will float in London next month for £130m. As the UK’s largest compliance services provider, SimplyBiz is expecting to raise £30m when it floats on 4 April. Selling shareholders – mainly Ken Davy, Life President of Huddersfield Town FC, and [...]