Which cafes and restaurants are reopening as the coronavirus lockdown lifts? June 10, 2020 After two months of coronavirus lockdown, Britain’s high streets are waking up again. From Pret to Pizza Express, cafes and restaurants across the country are working out how to restart their businesses. So what chains can customers expect to open up again on Monday, when so-called non-essential businesses are allowed to make their long-awaited return? [...]
Softbank to lay off 15 per cent of staff at Vision Fund arm June 9, 2020 Softbank is set to cut 15 per cent of jobs at the investment arm which manages its $100bn Vision Fund, following a series of misplaced bets which damaged its overall value. The Vision Fund, which is responsible for taking major stakes on behalf of Softbank in tech startups such Wework and Uber, has a global [...]
Ride-hailing giant Gett chases $60m raise ahead of stock market debut June 8, 2020 Gett, the ride-hailing company part-owned by car giant Volkswagen, is close to raising a $60m (£47m) funding injection as it gears up to go public. The Uber rival is finalising the round which would be its first external fundraise since it secured $200m from investors last year. Sources told Sky News that the new funding [...]
Coronavirus: How safe is it to order takeaway food in lockdown? June 5, 2020 Restaurants have started pivoting to takeaway services amid the pandemic to stay afloat as normal service will only be able to resume, in some capacity, in July. The government has not ruled out restaurants from offering takeaway services and last month issued guidance. We look at how safe it is to order takeaway food and [...]
Jeff Bezos takes stake in UK tech startup Beacon May 31, 2020 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is reportedly investing in UK technology startup Beacon. The world’s richest man has agreed to back the startup, which is a specialist in digital freight forwarding and supply chain finance, according to Sky News. Bezos, who is worth approximately $143bn, is said to be participating in a $15m Series A funding [...]
Softbank Vision Fund boss doubles pay despite hefty loss May 29, 2020 Softbank has more than doubled the pay of its Vision Fund boss Rajeev Misra even as the mammoth tech fund dragged the Japanese company to a record loss last year. Misra pocketed 1.6bn yen (£12m) in total compensation for the year to March, more than twice as much as he earned in the previous 12 [...]
Office Politics: How will independent consulting change post-Covid? May 27, 2020 The coronavirus crisis has permanently changed the way we work, showing that remote working is now an increasingly viable solution. As the world learns to adapt to a post-covid working world independent consultants are well placed to support this. When the gig economy is mentioned, Uber and Deliveroo are often the first names that come [...]
Uber to cut nearly 7,000 employees as firm seeks to consolidate core activities May 18, 2020 Ride-hailing firm Uber will cut nearly 7,000 employees, its chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said in an email to employees, in a bid to remain profitable during the coronavirus crisis. In total, Uber will cut 6,700 staff – 23 per cent of its workforce – up from the 3,700 redundancies announced earlier this month. The firm [...]
Alibaba’s Jack Ma steps down from Softbank board May 18, 2020 Softbank has announced that Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma will resign from its board, in the latest high-profile exit for the technology group. The resignation of Jack Ma, after 13 years on the board, is the latest departure of critics of Softbank founder Masayoshi Son’s pivot towards a £100bn investment fund. Ma did not give a [...]
Uber installing in-car partitions to help stop coronavirus spread May 14, 2020 Uber said today it was piloting the installation of screens in 400 cars to help stop the spread of coronavirus. Uber is working with AA to install the partitions in 400 cars in Newcastle, Sunderland and Durham. It is also working with Unilever to distribute hygiene kits to Uber drivers in the UK. Uber said [...]