MUSIC STARS BID FAREWELL TO UNIVERSAL BOSS LUCIAN GRAINGE June 16, 2010 A rapturous reception on Tuesday evening for Lucian Grainge, the current head of Universal Music’s international division, who is moving to New York next month to become chief executive of the group as a whole. Grainge, on crutches owing to a recent leg injury, stood near the stage area in a room at the Knightsbridge [...]
EMI plans to raise £400m in rights lease March 21, 2010 TROUBLED music group EMI could offer rivals the chance to cash in on its star artists’ back catalogues as it desperately seeks to stave off a takeover bid. The label faces a spiralling cash crisis and is at risk of being bought up by its biggest lender, Citigroup, unless it can raise funds. It hopes [...]
The rising stars of London’s wine scene July 14, 2010 REMEMBER the old days, when you’d sit down in a posh restaurant and a scary-looking French man with a handlebar moustache would sidle over to you with a book the size of the bible? Well, times have changed, and a gaggle of young studs and studettes have taken over London’s best wine lists. Well under [...]
Vivendi books higher profits despite slump September 1, 2009 ENTERTAINMENT giant Vivendi yesterday said consumers were staying at home in the recession, boosting sales of its pay-TV packages and video games, and helping it to report expectation-beating profits for its second quarter. The Paris-listed firm, which makes smash hit video games such as Guitar Hero, also said its French telecoms business was performing well, [...]
Vivendi books higher profits despite slump September 1, 2009 ENTERTAINMENT giant Vivendi yesterday said consumers were staying at home in the recession, boosting sales of its pay-TV packages and video games, and helping it to report expectation-beating profits for its second quarter. The Paris-listed firm, which makes smash hit video games such as Guitar Hero, also said its French telecoms business was performing well, [...]
A big success in any language March 18, 2010 OF all the things you might expect to see in a language-teaching classroom, a piano is perhaps not high on the list. But that’s one of the most noticeable objects in Yalan Chuang’s office in King’s Cross, where she teaches businesspeople Chinese. “It is a very musical language, some words are spoken like a soprano [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 1, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES TOYODA APOLOGY TOUR IN BEIJING Akio Toyoda, chief executive of Toyota Motor, apologised to Chinese consumers yesterday during a visit to Beijing, as he extended his effort to repair Toyota’s image to the biggest-volume car market in the world. Toyoda flew to China from the US where he had received tough criticism from [...]
The man who thinks MBAs should make ethics centre stage in the boardroom April 28, 2010 AROUND a year ago, in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and in the midst of governments bailouts, a group of Harvard Business School MBA students decided to create an oath that would help to promote more ethical behaviour in business. They were stung by criticism of MBAs, who were blamed by some [...]
Music group Spotify in talks to raise new funds July 5, 2009 SPOTIFY, the Swedish peer-to-peer legal music streaming site, is seeking new investment in the region of £30m as it seeks to capitalise on its strong position within the market. Any deal would value the group at around £200m. Spotify hopes to become profitable for the first time later this year. The site has grown rapidly [...]
Innocent ravaged in downturn after smoothie sales fall November 8, 2009 Smoothie maker Innocent, which sold a minority stake to drinks giant Coca-Cola in April, fell into the red last year due to falling sales. The group reported a pre-tax loss of £11.2m for the year ending 31 December 2008, compared to a profit of £12m the year before. Innocent did not report a dividend, compared [...]