What the other papers say this morning – 13 December 2013 December 12, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Bitcoin start-up fundraises $25m A Silicon Valley company that allows speculators and merchants to trade Bitcoin has raised $25m (£15.3m) in venture capital funding in the largest investment so far in a virtual currency business. As a result of the deal, San Francisco-based Coinbase will have two of the most prominent venture capitalists [...]
The Long View: Three reads for Christmas: Glamour, Cicero’s web and high-tech fiction December 12, 2013 I WROTE at the end of November that the rise of the selfie marked the death of the audience and the rise of an age committed to universal self-expression and performance. This week, even world leaders have been joining in. When David Cameron and Barack Obama were caught taking silly pictures of themselves at Nelson [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 12 December 2013 December 11, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Nigeria’s missing $50bn oil cash A letter from the Central Bank of Nigeria suggests that the state oil company has failed to account for nearly $50bn in crude oil sold between January 2012 and July 2013 that should by law have been remitted to government coffers. The alleged shortfall amounts to 76 per [...]
Capco’s Covent Garden scheme wins approval December 11, 2013 CAPITAL & Counties (Capco) was given the go-ahead by Westminster Council yesterday to build a leisure and residential scheme connecting two of Covent Garden’s busiest shopping areas. The developer wants to transform the space between King Street and Floral Street within its £1.1bn Covent Garden estate, creating a new public courtyard overlooked by eight shops, [...]
Imagination out of favour after demand slows December 11, 2013 IMAGINATION Technologies said a slowdown at the top end of the smartphone market would hit the number of chips shipped with its graphics and video technology in the second half of the year, sending its shares down more than 20 per cent. Its lower guidance, combined with disappointing first-half results, pushed Imagination’s shares down to [...]
The tech giants are right: We could be sleepwalking into a surveillance state December 9, 2013 THE CHIEF executives of eight of the biggest businesses in the world sent a clear message to global leaders yesterday: as far as surveillance laws are concerned, the status quo is not an option. It is hardly a common occurrence that AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo agree on something, let alone write [...]
UK division of Leica sees slower sales despite new camera launch December 8, 2013 THE UK division of Leica Cameras, the iconic camera brand used by celebrated photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, reported a slowdown in sales last year despite rolling out a new flagship camera. Leica Camera, which is owned by German parent company Leica AG and distributes cameras in the UK, reported a 12 per cent dip in turnover [...]
Merck picks up AZ Electronic in £1.6bn purchase December 5, 2013 LONDON-listed chemicals company AZ Electronic Materials has agreed a £1.56bn takeover by German manufacturer Merck. AZ, a maker of chemicals for Apple’s iPad displays and memory chips, saw its share price rise over 50 per cent to 395p a share on news of the deal yesterday, just shy of the 403.5p per share that the [...]
Icahn pushes for bigger slice of Apple turnover December 4, 2013 VETERAN investor Carl Icahn has announced that he will push for Apple to increase its stock buyback programme, forcing a shareholder vote on the issue. Icahn is calling for Apple to increase its existing buyback scheme by $50bn (£30.53bn). The proposal would not force Apple to act, but could put pressure on the board to [...]
EU antitrust probe gives green light to Nokia for handset sale December 4, 2013 EUROPEAN Union antitrust regulators have approved Nokia’s €5.44bn (£4.5bn) sale of its devices and services division to Microsoft. “The commission concluded that the transaction would not raise any competition concerns,” the European Commission said in a statement yesterday. The deal has now passed final regulatory approval, having been given the go ahead by the US [...]