Union to ballot 150,000 civil servants on plans for public sector strike Public Sector strike The public sector workers’ union is set to ballot more than 150,000 civil servants on plans to strike over pay and working conditions. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said it is urging its members in 214 government departments to vote in favour of taking industrial action, after the UK government set out plans [...]
Suez strikes £1.75bn deal to buy back UK waste management from Veolia M&A French utility Suez SA has struck a €2bn (£1.75bn) deal with Veolia Environment to buy back the UK waste management business it agreed to sell off to its rival last January. Suez has scuppered Macquarie’s bid to buy the British unit after the Australian asset manager struck a deal to acquire the UK business for [...]
Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal faces deeper competition probe microsoft The competition regulator has referred Microsoft’s $68.7bn snap up of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard for an in-depth investigation, spelling danger for the gaming sector's monster deal.
Raft of UK pharmaceutical directors risk being disqualified after CMA ruling September 2, 2022 The UK’s competition watchdog has today issued High Court proceedings to disqualify a raft of pharmaceutical directors, including Alliance Pharma’s CEO, over suspected anti-competitive agreements. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched the investigation into the UK’s pharmaceutical sector in 2017, and revealed earlier this year that several firms had been impeding competition in the [...]
CMA provisionally clears cyber firm NortonLifeLock’s £7bn bid for Avast August 3, 2022 The competition regulator has provisionally cleared cybersecurity firm NortonLifeLock's $8.6bn (£7.1bn) deal to snap up Avast.
JD Sports appoints former B&Q exec as CEO August 2, 2022 JD Sports has named former B&Q executive Régis Schultz as new CEO, as the sportswear retailer hopes to put a slew of negative headlines behind it. Schultz is anticipated to join the London-listed retailer in September, with interim boss Kath Smith to resume her former role as a senior independent director on the board. He [...]
Monzo ‘repeatedly failed customers’ by not sharing data, competition watchdog says July 26, 2022 The competition watchdog has accused Monzo of “repeatedly” failing its customers today after it found the digital lender had failed to share transaction data with people closing down their accounts.
BT Sport and Sky Sports consult on freelancer day rates as watchdog continues probe on ‘cartel’ July 21, 2022 BT Sport and Sky are said to have consulted on day rates for freelancers just as the UK competition watchdog continues its investigation into potential collusion in sports broadcasting.
Win for Facebook: Judge orders UK competition watchdog to revisit Meta Giphy sale July 18, 2022 Judges have called on the UK competition watchdog to revisit its ruling on the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) ruling that Meta should sell Giphy.
Watchdog investigates big broadcasters for supposed antitrust breaches with freelance workers July 13, 2022 The UK watchdog has opened an investigation into ITV's purchase of freelance services, which support the production and broadcasting of sports content.