Icahn pulls out of Ebay battle over PayPal April 10, 2014 ACTIVIST investor Carl Icahn has backed down from his second corporate fight in as many months, with his decision yesterday to cease his crusade for Ebay to spinoff its fast-growing PayPal unit. In February Icahn abandoned his push for Apple to return $50bn (£29.8bn) to investors via a share buyback. Ebay yesterday said Icahn had [...]
What you need to know before the US open April 10, 2014 US stock futures haven’t altered much today, following the S&P 500 reaching its largest gain in more than a month. The number of people claiming unemployment benefit for the first time in the US has dropped to a May 2007 low of 300,000 – much lower than expected. Over here, the Bank of England’s decided [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 10 April 2014 April 9, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Firms in the dark over pension charges Employers running final-salary pension schemes can be charged 10 times more than more efficient competitors, according to a new regulatory study that exposes a further lack of transparency in Britain’s investment industry. Research by The Pensions Regulator has also found that nearly a quarter of the [...]
Four business tips from Alex Ferguson April 9, 2014 Ruthlessness and a focus on young talent may pay off, but be careful not to linger after quitting WITH 38 trophies in 26 years at Manchester United, including 13 of the 21 Premier League titles he contested, Sir Alex Ferguson can stake a strong claim as the most successful sports manager in a generation. This [...]
HTC’s losses widen as flagship smartphone attracts slim sales April 7, 2014 TAIWANESE smartphone firm HTC reported a wider than expected first-quarter loss as its flagship smartphones continue to attract modest sales. Despite the rave reviews that HTC’s recent devices have received, the company posted a 22.6 per cent drop in revenues to 33.12bn Taiwanese dollars (£659m). “The company expects to see positive trajectory of its revenue [...]
Which surprise stocks will see the biggest wins from an Internet of Things? April 3, 2014 Hot on the heels of a 75-page paper from analysts at Barclays dubbed the ‘Hyperconnected World: The digital invasion” comes another mammoth paper from banking analysts on the invasion of the internet. Morgan Stanley have published a 96-page tome detailing in great precision on the Internet of Things, or IoT in short, and its impact [...]
What you need to know before the US open April 3, 2014 US futures suggest a mixed open for markets, which will have the latest jobs report to digest, with numbers from Markit indicating the health of the services sector later on. Stocks were left little changed today by the announcement by the ECB that it has, as expected, opted to keep rates on hold, despite falling inflation [...]
Amazon to challenge Apple with $99 fire TV April 2, 2014 AMAZON will enter the living room with a video streaming set top box called Fire TV. Chief executive Jeff Bezos described the rival to Apple TV as a: “Tiny box, huge specs, tons of content, incredible price”. It will pipe movies and TV shows directly from Amazon’s video service onto TV. No UK release date [...]
Microsoft to offer Windows free on phones April 2, 2014 MICROSOFT said yesterday it will give away its Windows operating system to makers of smartphones and small tablets as it seeks to grab a toehold in the fast-growing markets. It comes a week after new boss Satya Nadella unveiled new versions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel for Apple’s iPad.
Why Amazon is about to become a first class citizen in the living room April 2, 2014 At 4pm this afternoon Amazon is set to launch its own mystery TV box to finally elevate the retail giant to more than a second class citizen in the video streaming space. During its “update to our video business” Amazon is expected to reveal a way for its users to access Prime Instant Video, formerly [...]