UK record label revenue grows as streaming offsets pandemic hit March 23, 2021 UK record label revenues ticked up last year as the booming popularity of streaming services helped to offset the impact of the pandemic. Recorded music revenue grew to £1.1bn in 2020, up 3.8 per cent on the previous 12 months and the highest level since 2006. It is also the fifth consecutive year of growth, [...]
Anti-virus firm Norton taken to court amid competition investigation March 23, 2021 The UK competition watchdog is taking anti-virus software firm Norton to court after it refused to provide information relating to an ongoing investigation. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has identified concerns that Norton’s practices for automatically renewing contracts result in customers paying for services they no longer want or need. It asked the company [...]
Coronavirus: How has a year of lockdowns changed the way we shop? March 23, 2021 One year ago today Boris Johnson announced the UK would enter its first coronavirus lockdown, forcing non-essential shops, pubs and restaurants to close in an unprecedented move to slow the spread of Covid-19. The way we shop had changed before the Prime Minister addressed the nation on the evening of 23 March 2020. Images of [...]
Exclusive: How’s that for a perk? Jefferies buys staff Peloton bikes as lockdown bonus March 22, 2021 Employees at Jefferies, the global investment bank, are set to pedal their way out of lockdown – after the firm gifted staff Peloton bikes as a thank you for their recent work. Analysts and associates received an email from senior staff on Friday. UK staff will be able to select from a Peloton bike – [...]
Bitcoin’s $1 trillion market cap ‘too important to ignore’ as retail investments grow March 22, 2021 CryptoCompare data shows the price of Bitcoin (BTC) dropped from a $61,800 all-time high to a $54,000 low this week before recovering and retesting the $60,000 mark on numerous occasions.
Valuation of Fortnite creator Epic Games soars to $28bn after lockdown demand March 20, 2021 The owner of two big pandemic winners, Fortnite and Houseparty, has reportedly closed a new fundraising round which brings its valuation to around $28bn. Epic Games is finalising the terms of a $1bn fundraising just seven months after its last round, according to Sky News. Last summer the Houseparty-owner secured a $17.3bn valuation after a [...]
Corona Impact Series: How a Shoreditch expense-tech bounced back during lockdown March 20, 2021 In this series, City A.M. looks at the financial and economic impact of the ongoing pandemic on a range of small and medium-sized businesses across London. Today: How an expense-tech scale-up helped businesses keep track of their spending when spending dropped through the floor. Before the pandemic, Jeppe Rindom, co-founder and CEO of Pleo – [...]
Zoom: What’s next for the Covid-19 pandemic’s biggest winner? March 18, 2021 There is a moment all marketers dream of when a product becomes so commonplace that the brand name becomes a verb. This achievement was last year bestowed on Zoom, the previously obscure video conferencing platform that almost overnight became relied upon for both work and socialising. It was a year of eye-watering success for the [...]
The artificial intelligence influencers that you should be following March 18, 2021 Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ultimate manifestation of the promise of technology to improve our lives. Within our lifetimes AI will become omnipresent across every segment of economic activity and within every field of human endeavour. But AI is not a single genus but a constellation of technologies that must work together in harmony. By [...]
Uber: What does the workers’ rights U-turn mean for the ride-hailing giant? March 17, 2021 Uber agreed yesterday to give its 70,000 UK drivers holiday pay and pensions following a landmark ruling in the Supreme Court. The court ruled that all UK drivers are employees of the taxi giant — rather than being self-employed — and are therefore eligible to receive holiday pay on a fortnightly basis. Susannah Streeter, senior [...]