Sajid Javid opts to go down with the ship February 14, 2020 Just under three months ago, Boris Johnson promised a room full of business leaders that Sajid Javid was guaranteed to remain in office as chancellor. He praised Javid and gave a “categorical” commitment to the CBI conference that he will remain in post. Yesterday, Javid was told that if he wanted to keep his job [...]
Cabinet reshuffle live: Chancellor resigns over turf war with No 10, as PM shakes up top team February 13, 2020 This is a live blog, please hit refresh to update 6pm – Live blog wrap Well, that’s your lot for today – at least, in terms of this live blog. My colleagues will be picking up on the rest of the appointments this evening and tomorrow. It was quite a day – certainly more of [...]
Norwegian Air deepens cutbacks as 737 Max crisis weighs February 13, 2020 Norwegian Air has posted a loss of 1.87bn Norwegian krone (£155m) in the fourth quarter as the Boeing 737 Max crisis continued to take its toll on the airline. This was narrowed from the 3bn krone loss posted in the same period in 2018, but lagged behind analysts’ forecasts. Operating revenue also fell seven per [...]
Coronavirus latest: UK ‘superspreader’ discharged from hospital February 12, 2020 This page collects all the latest news about the coronavirus outbreak, now called Covid-19 The man connected to 11 cases of the coronavirus has been discharged from hospital having made a full recovery from the illness. Business Steve Walsh, who contracted the illness on a work visit to Singapore before passing it to others on [...]
Wework aims to be free cash flow positive by 2022 February 11, 2020 Embattled office space provider Wework has said it will become free cash flow positive a year earlier than expected and will post its first ever $1bn revenue quarter this year. The coworking firm said it will be free cash flow positive by 2022, and hopes to achieve free cash flow of more than $1bn by [...]
Marks and Spencer appoints new chief financial officer February 11, 2020 Marks and Spencer has announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer, at a time when the group is trying to revive its fortunes. Eoin Tonge will join from Irish convenience food retailer Greencore in June after his predecessor Humphrey Singer stood down in September last year. Marks and Spencer boss Steve Rowe said: [...]
Amazon seeks to depose Trump in $10bn Pentagon contract battle February 10, 2020 Amazon is seeking to depose Donald Trump and US defence secretary Mark Esper in a legal battle over whether the president was trying to ‘“screw Amazon” in handing a Pentagon cloud computing contract to Microsoft. Amazon Web Services said Trump influenced the decision to give the $10bn (£7.74bn) Joint Enterprise Defence Infrastructure Cloud contract, which [...]
How e-scooters, self-driving cars, and flying taxis will shape the future of your commute February 10, 2020 An air of tranquility hangs about Stratford’s electric scooter riders. Their bodies are still, poised, as they glide by on this crisp February morning. I try to copy them and end up skidding along, struggling to figure out how to position my feet — but after a couple of wobbles I’m gliding too. As I [...]
Sir Charlie Bean: Forget Brexit – the UK productivity crisis is a threat to capitalism February 8, 2020 Brexit has dominated conversations about the UK economy in recent years, just as it has hung over almost everything else. But over the last week or so, the country’s festering productivity crisis has come to the fore, with the Bank of England downgrading its growth predictions and studies describing the worst decade for productivity expansion [...]
UK appoints first female US ambassador February 7, 2020 The government has appointed a new US ambassador after the last person to hold the post quit in the wake of leaked messages about President Donald Trump. Dame Karen Pierce will become the new UK ambassador to the US at a crucial time – with Trump reported to have been “livid” about Prime Minister Boris [...]