ITV in talks to take stake in BT Sport April 30, 2021 ITV is one of the parties in talks to buy BT Sport, a move that could bring major football back to free-to-air television if the sale went ahead. BT yesterday confirmed it was in talks with major streaming platforms to offload a stake in its television arm as it focuses on its broadband division. ITV [...]
Retailers are using experiences, not goods, to keep high street fashion on trend November 22, 2021 A short stroll along Oxford Street these days doesn’t necessarilly fill retail fans with confidence. A phalanx of American candy stores, souvenir shops of questionable quality and ‘to let’ signs have blossomed after the pandemic, and House of Fraser last week became the latest bricks and mortar flagship to announce it would be closing its [...]
Airbnb inks deal with location tech firm what3words amid staycation boom July 8, 2021 Airbnb has launched a partnership with what3words to bring the startup’s location mapping technology to its platform ahead of an expected boom in staycations. What3words has divided the world into three-metre squares each with a unique three-word name to help pinpoint specific addresses. The London-based company said its technology helps to tackle the inaccuracy of [...]
GB News viewer numbers slump after turbulent start June 30, 2021 GB News has suffered a sharp drop in viewing figures since its launch amid a string of difficulties for the upstart news channel. The station has pulled in just over 1m viewers in recent days, less than half the peak of 2.2m recorded on its first full day earlier this month. GB News, which has [...]
UK businesses pay £1bn of furlough money back to the Treasury June 17, 2021 British firms have paid back the government more than £1bn in previously claimed furlough payments, after weathering the Covid recession successfully. A Freedom of Information request, sent by the Financial Times, revealed that £709m of money claimed through the coronavirus job retention scheme has now been repaid to HM Revenue and Customs by businesses. Another [...]
BP boss Bernard Looney takes home £1.7m after bonuses axed March 22, 2021 BP’s boss Bernard Looney was paid £1.7m for his first year in charge of the oil giant as the firm axed all of its bonuses due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Irishman, who took over the firm at the beginning of 2020, could have been in line for £11m in remuneration, but the crisis put [...]
Contentsquare secures $2.8bn price tag after Softbank-led funding round May 26, 2021 Data analytics platform Contentsquare has secured a valuation of $2.8bn (£1.9bn) following a funding round led by Japanese investment giant Softbank. The digital experience firm, which helps companies understand how people interact on their website or app, nabbed the price tag after raising $500m in a Series E round. The cash injection was led by [...]
Full fibre broadband is the next gold rush to get Britain connected October 14, 2021 There is a gold rush taking place in the UK right now. Private equity barons and telecoms cowboys are pouring money into BT Openreach challengers. Last month Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company and the IKEA holding company Intergogo injected over £1bn in CityFibre. It was the largest single round of funding into a UK full [...]
Kingfisher shares jump on plans to launch B&Q stores in Saudi Arabia March 9, 2021 Shares in Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q, jumped this morning after it announced plans to expand the DIY chain into the Middle East. Kingfisher said this morning that it has signed a franchise agreement with the Al-Futtaim Group, with the first Middle East stores to launch in Saudi Arabia. It marks a progression in the [...]
ITV begins ‘cautiously optimistic’ recovery from production hit during pandemic May 5, 2021 British broadcaster ITV has begun to recover from stalled production during the pandemic, with advertising revenue rebounding 68 per cent this month. In a trading update this morning, ITV said it expected total ad revenue for the first half of the year to rise around 26 per cent compared to 2020, despite pandemic restrictions being [...]