Carlyle Group misses the Beats after fund stakes weigh on firm October 29, 2014 Buyout company Carlyle Group was undone by its non-buyout interests last quarter despite a boost from its $3bn (£1.86bn) sale of headphone maker Beats. The Washington-based company, which has a range of interests from buyouts, hedge fund investments and property, said economic net income (ENI) fell 15 per cent to $166m in the third quarter. [...]
Charismatic chief executives could be bad for firms October 29, 2014 Compelling as they may be, strong leaders can lack humility. I am soft, I am lovable, but what I really want to do is reach in, rip out their hearts and eat them before they die.” Not the words of a general before battle, but Lehman Brothers’s last chairman and chief executive Dick Fuld, [...]
CurrentC, US retailers’ Apple Pay killer, has already had a security breach October 29, 2014 Since its launch last week, Apple Pay has become surprisingly controversial – in fact, various mega-retailers, including Wal-Mart and Best Buy, have blocked its use. That's because they're part of a network called the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), which is working on its own version of Apple Pay. Known as CurrentC, the app has been [...]
Restaurant review: Tredwell’s – Marcus Wareing’s new venture in St Martin’s Lane October 29, 2014 Upper St Martin’s Lane, which neatly bisects the tourist wastelands of Leicester Square and Covent Garden, seems like the last place Marcus Wareing would pick for his third UK restaurant. His flagship venture “Marcus” – formerly Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley – is a two Michelin-starred love-letter to formal dining (and home to one of [...]
Alibaba passes WalMart with share price leap October 28, 2014 SHARES in Chinese e-retail giant Alibaba climbed above $100 during trading yesterday after exec chairman Jack Ma said he was open to working with Apple on mobile payments. The stock jump meant that the firm’s market capitalisation edged over the $248bn mark, while that of US retail giant WalMart fell to around $247.5bn according to [...]
Tim Cook: Apple Pay registered a million users in its first three days October 28, 2014 More than a million excited Apple fanboys had registered their credit cards with Apple Pay within 72 hours of its launch last week, Apple chief executive Tim Cook has said. The system launched with much hype on 20 October, allowing users to pay for goods in more than 220,000 retailers, including Bloomingdales, McDonalds, Foot Locker, [...]
Just one UK company ranked among the world’s top 50 innovative firms in BCG report October 27, 2014 Britain's biggest firms are lagging behind US and Asian firms in terms of innovation, according to a new report that lists just one UK firm among the world’s 50 most innovative companies. The single British firm was multinational Unilever, which owns brands such as Lynx, Ben and Jerry’s and Dove. The firm finished in 49th [...]
Why companies fail when success becomes routine October 27, 2014 The corporate landscape is littered with companies like Tesco, HP and Sony. Once business trailblazers, they have somehow become pedestrian and their performance has suffered. But why didn’t they spot the signs before their market share and profits started to slip? The simple answer is that, when firms perform well, they try to hardwire the [...]
Curb “patent privateers” to protect intellectual property October 24, 2014 Effective intellectual property protections are imperative to maintaining a robust economy and promoting innovation—and patents are an important facet of this regime. Unfortunately, bad actors are exploiting loopholes for personal gain and threatening the health of the current system—one that is generally working well. Lurking in murky legal waters, “Patent Privateers” are abusing protections and [...]
Poor Fire Phone sales take their toll on Amazon October 24, 2014 Poor sales of the Fire Phone are taking their toll on Amazon's business. In a conference call the company said it would take a $170m write down “primarily related to Fire phone inventory valuation and supplier commitment costs.” Amazon’s phone was said to be the “iPhone killer” ahead of its release, but even its [...]