ABB chairman breaks away from Saudi mega-city project amid Khashoggi case October 21, 2018 Former Shell chief executive and chairman of Swiss engineering firm ABB Peter Voser is the latest high-profile figure to distance himself from the advisory board of Saudi Arabia's $500bn £382.5bn) mega-city project Neom. The move follows the exit of a string of global business and political leaders from an upcoming investment conference in Riyadh. International ties to the region have been breaking [...]
Property of the Week: Fleetwood Mac star’s penthouse, designed by Foster & Partners, is on sale in Battersea October 19, 2018 If you’ve got Dreams of owning a penthouse apartment by the river, now may be your chance – thanks to a former member of Fleetwood Mac. Christine McVie, one of three main vocalists and the keyboardist in the legendary band, is selling her £3.45m penthouse in Battersea, south London. Riverside One, Battersea, £3.45m Riverside One [...]
DEBATE: Subscribers have surged, but are we nearing ‘peak Netflix’? October 18, 2018 Subscribers have surged, but are we nearing ‘peak Netflix’? Jon Tipple, chief strategy officer at FutureBrand, says YES. Netflix is an amazing success story. Its content, valuation, and subscriber numbers all say so, especially after Tuesday’s results. Our FutureBrand Index also confirmed it last week – we reorder the PwC Global Top 100 firms to [...]
Apple taps US design tech Ember to track caffeine intake as it launches in the UK October 17, 2018 Design tech firm Ember has launched with Apple to monitor caffeine consumption inside the Health app using its smart mug, as the company arrives in the UK as part of its international expansion drive. Ember, the maker of a ceramic mug which uses heat control technology to keep drinks at a desired temperature, will now appear as [...]
Customers stay sweet on Cadbury’s despite low-tax owner October 17, 2018 Last week, several news outlets carried the news that Mondelez International – owners of chocolatier Cadbury – paid no corporation tax in 2017, though the company made profits of £185m. Mondelez’s subsidiaries were reported to have paid a combined total of £5.9m to HMRC. The news drew opprobrium from figures such as shadow chancellor, John [...]
Card clash: Mastercard UK’s Mark Barnett on the battle for payments market share October 15, 2018 The likelihood is that, reading this, you have a Visa debit card somewhere on your person. Only two per cent of Britons currently have a Mastercard debit card, but that will change shortly after a string of wins for the US giant which will see its market share increase by 10 times. TSB and Santander [...]
Tech giants stumble as Wall Street fails to recover from nightmare week October 15, 2018 The big five US tech companies dropped over $30bn (£23bn) from their market value yesterday as Wall Street struggled to bounce back from a nightmare week. Netflix recovered slightly after an initial three per cent drop when the share’s target price was slashed by Raymond James and Goldman Sachs. Read more: Snap to challenge Netflix [...]
Nine Elms project One Embassy Gardens put on the market for £160m October 11, 2018 One Embassy Gardens, a flagship Nine Elms office block located next to the new US embassy, is being put up on the market for £160m today, as developers hope to lure in buyers for one of Europe’s largest regeneration zones. Ballymore's planned sale comes 10 months after the developer secured the tenancy of Penguin Random House, with [...]
Apple to buy parts of European chipmaker Dialog Semiconductor in $600m deal October 11, 2018 Apple said today it has entered into a deal to acquire parts of European iPhone chipmaker Dialog Semiconductor, in a deal valued at $600m (£454m). Apple will gain some patents and a team of engineers from the chip designer, and cement a three-year contract for Dialog to continue building chips for its iPhone and iPad products. The transaction [...]
FAANGs out: Tech stocks set to continue slide after losing $172bn in a single day October 11, 2018 Yesterday's $172bn (£130bn) tech stocks slide is set to worsen today, as pre-market trading indicates each of the so-called FAANG companies could stand to lose further value. Amazon was the worst hit overnight, losing an additional 2.24 per cent on top of yesterday's 6.15 per cent slide which wiped around $56bn off its market capitalisation. Apple [...]