WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
BARRISTER’S EX-WIFE WINS PAYOUT AFTER 25 YEARS
A leading barrister has been ordered to pay his former wife a lump sum of £215,000 – 25 years after they divorced. David Vaughan QC, an expert in European law, had been been paying his former wife Philippa an annual sum of £27,175. But in November a deputy High Court judge stopped these payments and declined to make an order for a lump sum in favour of his ex-wife instead. On Wednesday the Court of Appeal ruled that Mr Vaughan, who has since remarried, should make a £215,000 payment to his ex-wife despite the fact that they separated in 1981 and divorced four years later.
GOOGLE SUFFERS CHINA TRAFFIC LOSS
Google’s business in China showed signs of unravelling yesterday as search problems shook the confidence of advertisers and users. The US tech company accused China on Tuesday of blocking searches on its Hong Kong website.
NET-A-PORTER FOUNDER POISED TO BAG £50M
Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet is set to make about £50m from selling her stake in the luxury e-tailer to Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods group that owns the Cartier and Mont Blanc brands. Richemont, which already owns 29 per cent of the internet business, is set to take a majority stake in the company in a deal that values Net-a-Porter at £350m.
SONY AND TOSHIBA OFFLOAD FACTORIES
Sony and Toshiba sold factories to Taiwan rivals on Wednesday in a shift by Japanese groups away from electronics manufacturing. The sale of Sony’s Nitra television plant to Hon Hai marks the end of an era.
THE TIMES
JARVIS AXES 1,100 JOBS AFTER RESCUE HOPES FADE
More than a thousand employees of Jarvis, most of them railway workers, were made redundant today as the administrators to the rail maintenance company admitted that the chances of finding a buyer were slim.
CARBON INSPECTORS WILL FORCE COMPANIES TO REDUCE EMISSIONS
A team of government carbon inspectors is being formed to compel thousands of British companies to disclose full details of their annual carbon emissions under a mandatory new scheme launched today. From today they have six months to measure and declare their annual emissions to the Environment Agency, which will administer the scheme. Starting in 2011 they will have to buy permits to cover them, and from 2013 their emissions will be capped.
The Daily Telegraph
PIMCO fears UK ‘debt trap’
The US bond fund PIMCO has warned that Britain risks a vicious circle of rising debt costs as global investors demand a penalty fee on gilts to protect against inflation. Bill Gross, the fund’s chief and emminence grise of bond vigilantes, said the UK was on its list of “must avoid” countries along with Greece and others in eurozone’s Club Med.
NEW CARBON TRADING LEGISLATION CONFUSES BUSINESSES
A compulsory carbon trading scheme for 5,000 UK businesses will launch today, amid widespread confusion about its complex rules and a bonanza of extra fees for environmental consultants. Under the Government’s scheme, an array of businesses that spend more than £500,000 per year on energy must conduct an audit of their carbon dioxide emissions.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
CHIEFS’ PAY AGAIN EDGES DOWN
The boss took another haircut as CEO compensation edged lower in 2009, the first time in two decades that pay declined for two consecutive years. The median value of salaries, bonuses, long-term incentives, and grants of stock and stock options for the chief executives of 200 major US companies declined 0.9 per cent to $6.95m, according to an analysis for The Wall Street Journal by the Hay Group management consultancy.
SAMSUNG LIFE AIMS TO RAISE $4.52BN IN IPO
Samsung Life Insurance is seeking to raise as much as $4.52bn in an initial public offering. Samsung Life, in a filing with the Korea Exchange on Wednesday, said it seeks to price the IPO between 90,000 and 115,000 won ($79.52 to $101.61) per share and will offer about 44.4m shares.