Jay Z bids £40m for Swedish music streaming Spotify rival Tidal January 30, 2015 Spotify could be about to become another issue to add to Jay-Z's list of 99 Problems: the US music mogul has bid half a billion krone, about £40m, for Aspiro, the parent company of Swedish streaming platform Tidal. The platform, which launched in the UK in October, focuses on high quality "lossless" music. At the [...]
Google’s results: Here’s what you need to know January 29, 2015 Google has reported its results for the fourth quarter and its worse than expected. Earnings per share were 20 cents below analysts' estimates at $6.88 while revenue came in $100m short at $14.5bn. On the upside profits were $4.76bn – 30 per cent up from the same period the year before. Analysts' forecast compiled by [...]
Now Gmail lets you transfer money via email in the UK January 29, 2015 Gmail users can now transfer money via email with a new feature from Google. With a simple click of a button and using Google Wallet, Gmailers in the UK can now transfer cash to anyone- even if the recipient doesn’t use Gmail. Rolling out over the next few weeks, users can also use the feature [...]
City Moves for 29 January 2015 | Who’s switching jobs January 28, 2015 Octopus The fund manager has announced the appointment of Jose de Pablo as investment director to support its healthcare business. He joins from Colliers International, where he provided strategic and corporate finance advice to real estate funds, lenders and operators. Savills Mark Simms has been appointed director in the real estate adviser’s London-based retail team. [...]
Fed’s patient move hits oil – New York Report January 28, 2015 US STOCKS closed down yesterday, driven by a sharp decline in the S&P 500 energy sector, after the Federal Reserve said the domestic economy was growing at a solid pace, signalling it remains on track to raise interest rates later this year. Concluding their first policy-setting meeting of the year, Fed officials said they would [...]
Apple share price rises after stellar first quarter earnings January 28, 2015 Apple stock has opened as much as eight per cent higher, reflecting a stellar set of earnings released after yesterday's market close. Investors appear more than happy with the $18bn of profit and 75m iPhones it sold in the three months to the end of December – the biggest quarterly profit of any company in history. [...]
Apple’s record earnings: Five things showing just how massive those numbers are January 28, 2015 Apple’s quarterly earnings after the iPhone 6 launch completely smashed expectations. Its profits of $18bn (£11.8bn) are so big, they are officially the biggest quarterly profit of any company in history. Ever. That’s just how huge it is. To put that in perspective… 1. Apple sold 34,000 iPhones every hour, more than 500 every minute, [...]
FCA boss Martin Wheatley is right to say sorry at last – Editor’s Letter January 27, 2015 Martin Wheatley evokes a lot of hostility, rather than respect, from many of the senior figures in the London’s financial community. A few months ago one chief executive pulled me aside and blamed the City’s top regulator for costing London the flotation of Alibaba, the giant Chinese internet group. Wheatley’s crime, I was told, was [...]
Apple sets new record as sales smash forecasts January 27, 2015 APPLE sales smashed even the most optimistic expectations after the tech giant sold a record number of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smartphones over the Christmas quarter and won thousands of new fans in China. The company sold 74.5m iPhones in the first quarter to 27 December, thanks to more people switching from Android than [...]
Wall Street big guns fail to fire up the market – New York Report January 27, 2015 DISAPPOINTING results from a number of bellwether companies dragged Wall Street down yesterday. Company results pointed to weakening conditions, while an unexpected decline in durable goods orders also weighed on sentiment. The day’s losses were broad, with nine of the 10 primary S&P 500 sectors lower on the day, though tech was the biggest drag [...]