Balancing the books: Murdoch’s News Corp tables bid for Simon & Schuster November 17, 2020 Rupert Murdoch’s media empire is said to have tabled a bid for Simon & Schuster, the publishing giant behind best-selling authors including Stephen King and Dan Brown. Simon & Schuster was put up for sale by its owner, US media conglomerate Viacom CBS, following a strategic review in March. Murdoch’s News Corp has now entered [...]
Intermediate Capital Group accelerates fundraising after ‘exceptional’ period November 17, 2020 Alternative fund manager Intermediate Capital Group has accelerated its fundraising timetable after an “exceptional” first half. ICG raised €2.6bn in the six months ended 30 September, resulting in assets under management (AUM) of €46.1bn and said it expects fundraising of €6bn for the full year. The firm, which invests in private debt, equity and infrastructure, [...]
Tesco, M&S and Sainsbury’s face allegations of worker exploitation in India November 17, 2020 UK retailers including Marks & Spencer (M&S), Tesco and Sainsbury’s are facing calls to apologise following allegations of worker exploitation in their supply chains. Supermarket supplier workers in India reportedly said they do not get toilet breaks or sufficient breaks to drink water or eat lunch. One member of staff told the BBC they were [...]
Watch it grow November 17, 2020 Beating Congestion Bitcoin continued to edge higher, making steady progress through the congestion area between $16,100-17,150. The risk on sentiment shows no sign of abating and the trend higher is therefore expected to remain in place. With that in mind, the aggregate open interest (OI) rose yet again to a new record high and continuing [...]
Huawei sells Honor smartphone brand as US sanctions bite November 17, 2020 Huawei is selling its budget smartphone brand Honor to a newly-formed consortium of Chinese buyers after US sanctions pushed the division to the brink of collapse. The Chinese tech giant said it will offload Honor’s business assets to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co, a group of over 30 agents and dealers, including several state-owned [...]
Ban EY from public contract bids following professional misconduct, urges charity November 17, 2020 The government should consider banning big four auditor EY from bidding on public contracts for three years following a number of recent scandals, charity Spotlight on Corruption has said. The charity has written a 17-page letter to government that accuses EY of “grave professional misconduct” that “renders its integrity questionable”, and suggests there should be [...]
How central bankers see the prospects for digicurrencies November 17, 2020 Last week three of the world’s central bankers met for an online European Central Bank Forum: BoE Governor Andrew Bailey, ECB President Christine Lagarde, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Their opinions will affect policy for the near-term—policies that determine inflation, interest rates, economic activity, the sales your company makes and the salaries or raises you [...]
Editorial: Vaccine success is a shot in the arm for the free market November 17, 2020 Who would have thought that competition and the free market would be the world’s saving grace as we head towards 2021? Other than anybody who has studied free market economics, obviously, or anybody who has noticed that over the past hundreds of years it has invariably been the private sector, driven by need, who have [...]
Whinging car giants are giving business a bad name November 17, 2020 News broke last week that the UK government is reportedly planning to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030. As night follows day came the inevitable howls from the car industry. It’s not possible. It’s all too quick. Our societies are not ready for it. And on it goes. The reality is [...]
Biden the bullet: US President-elect unveils $7 trillion coronavirus recovery package November 16, 2020 US President-elect Joe Biden has unveiled details of his $7 trillion coronavirus recovery package, as the Democrat lays the groundwork for America to “Build Back Better” from the worst Covid death toll in the world. Biden today announced his administration would invest $300bn in “the most critical competitive new industries and technology” to help the [...]