We’re switching on the superfast Square Mile and connecting the City to the future October 23, 2017 We’ve all been there before, when our internet connection drops out or is constantly buffering. That is why it is hardly surprising that London ranks twenty-sixth out of 33 European capitals in terms of broadband speed. Two decades ago, in 1997, wifi was invented and first released for consumers at a speed of two megabits [...]
Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein gets in a dig against the City with Frankfurt tweet October 19, 2017 Lloyd Blankfein made a cheeky dig at the UK on social media today. The Goldman Sachs chief executive was tweeting about a visit to Frankfurt, in which he said: “Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because I’ll be spending a lot more time there.” He followed this up with #Brexit. Just left Frankfurt. [...]
Snap Inc and NBC are going to make scripted shows together for Snapchat in original content push October 17, 2017 Snap is getting further into creating its own content and is just the latest tech company to do so, partnering with US media giant NBCUniversal. They will work together to produce scripted shows for the messaging app Snapchat, the two announced early this morning. Snap has already dipped its toes in the waters of TV-style [...]
Time to treat Google and Facebook as the media giants they really are October 17, 2017 The boss of WPP, Sir Martin Sorrell, has views on a wide range of topics, from the global economy, to Brexit, to the advertising world. One of his views is that Facebook and Google are media companies, and should be seen as such. And in this, he is absolutely right. Read more: Dow Jones newswire [...]
The Golden Age of newspapers approaches October 16, 2017 It has never been a more challenging or exciting time for the advertising industry. Daily discussion surrounds technology’s influence on consumer behaviour, brand safety, ad fraud, content quality and viewability. We continuously hear about Google and Facebook and the strength of targeted online advertising. So much for digital issues, but what of the newspaper? We [...]
London and Dublin must work together to champion financial services across Europe October 16, 2017 Last week I had the pleasure of visiting both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland– my final two visits as lord mayor of the City of London. As my year in office draws to a close, it was the perfect opportunity to hear the views of senior representatives from the country and region, and [...]
Adapt, or be crushed by the fourth industrial revolution October 9, 2017 No business has ever had the luxury of standing still. In the 1920s, American Express was founded as delivery service (hence the name), and Marriott originally specialised in root beer rather than hotels. Any company that has survived this long has had to adapt to the immense changes of the twentieth and early twenty-first century, [...]
Royal Mail strikes: It is time postal boss Moya Greene stepped into the limelight October 9, 2017 Barring an eleventh-hour U-turn, Royal Mail will today go to the High Court in a bid to delay a planned shutdown of Britain’s postal service, almost eight years to the day after the last one. The strike is over changes to pensions, pay and working conditions. We’ve seen a lot of the Communication Workers Union [...]
Robotaxi for who? The 16 stocks UBS believes will benefit from fleets of driverless cars (and the 13 that won’t) October 5, 2017 The rise of the robotaxi – fleets of futuristic looking autonomous cars carrying people around cities and beyond – threatens to bring mass cheap and efficient transport to the world’s roads. That’s good for consumers, but what about business? Well, some stand to benefit more than others, according to UBS, which estimates they will be [...]
Why cinema is doomed: The picture house may think it has weathered the storms of piracy and streaming, but the real cliff edge is still to come October 5, 2017 In April of last year, AMC, on the verge of buying out Odeon and becoming the largest cinema chain in the world, announced it was considering allowing people to use their phones during screenings. Its CEO, Adam Aron, justified this by saying, “When you tell a 22- year-old to turn off their phone, they hear [...]