Elon Musk’s tough year is a lesson for entrepreneurs that business isn’t all fun and games August 28, 2018 Poor Elon Musk. It might be difficult to feel sympathy for a billionaire, but entrepreneurs everywhere would have felt a pang of compassion on reading Musk’s emotional interview with the New York Times last week. As he recounted the stresses and strains of his last 12 months as head of Tesla – which he calls the [...]
City law firm criticises HMRC’s use of informants to claw back receipts from tax evaders August 28, 2018 A city law firm has criticised HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for paying informants to provide details on possible tax evasion, saying there were "ethical risks" tied to the practice. RPC said the practice of paying informants opened up the risk of increased data theft as disgruntled employees with an axe to grind could be persuaded into [...]
America’s record bull market: five charts that tell the story August 24, 2018 The US stock market is on its longest bull-run in history. It began on 9 March 2009 and, so far, has lasted nine years, five months and 13 days. As of today, it beats the great equities performance of the 1990s. A bull market is broadly defined as one that rises over time without falling [...]
Corbyn’s plan for the BBC would harm the press and prevent new media from thriving August 24, 2018 Taxing tech giants for the purpose of levelling the playing field is a monumentally bad idea. Unfortunately, it’s gaining traction. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen calls for an “Amazon Tax” from chancellor Philip Hammond to help save the high street. The immediate implications of increasing the tax burden on companies like Apple, Amazon, [...]
Chinese behemoth Alibaba hails significant revenue hike, despite profit blip August 23, 2018 Alibaba today bolstered its position as China’s largest online retailer, revealing revenue growth of 61 per cent for its first quarter. The group published an income of 80.9bn yuan (£9.2bn) in the three months ending June, marginally ahead of forecasts, and an increase in customers on the Taobao shopping platform as 576m people flocked to the website and app, up four [...]
Investment Trusts can add a new dimension to a portfolio August 23, 2018 Collective investments such as unit trusts and investment trusts let you access investment opportunities and spread risk across dozens of different companies. Investors’ money is pooled together and run by a manager who buys and sells stocks and shares on their behalf to create a diverse portfolio. While unit trusts and OEICs are structured as [...]
DEBATE: Is Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley the best person to turn House of Fraser around? August 23, 2018 Is Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley the best person to turn House of Fraser around? YES, says David Blair, global chief executive of FITCH. The British high street is crying out for a saviour, and why shouldn’t it be Mike Ashley? He’s a shrewd retailer driving Sports Direct to win against new-age competitors like Amazon. Ashley [...]
Corbyn plots to establish publicly owned rival to Facebook August 23, 2018 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has outlined plans to build a publicly owned social media platform to rival the likes of Facebook. In a speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Corbyn set out his idea to create the British Digital Corporation (BDC), a publicly owned entity that would also create entertainment content to rival streaming giants Netflix [...]
Target hits the bull’s-eye with highest same-store sales growth in 13 years August 22, 2018 Target has bucked the retail trend to publish strong sales growth today, reporting same-store sales that were higher than any it recorded in the past 13 years. The New York-listed retailer, the second largest in the US, saw same-store sales grow 4.9 per cent year-on-year in the three months ending early August, with the company crediting increasing [...]
Ditch the Chequers Agreement and Hammond can scrap his ‘Amazon tax’ August 22, 2018 Thanks to the Prime Minister’s commitment to raise NHS spending by an additional £20bn, the chancellor is now in a quandary. Philip Hammond signed up to the theory that raising taxes increases revenues, which goes against the volumes of evidence that it actually depresses economic activity, encourages switching of spending to other lower-taxed areas, and [...]