Philip Hammond is mulling special ‘Amazon tax’ for online retailers to counter high street woes | City A.M. August 10, 2018 Chancellor Philip Hammond has said he is considering a new tax for online businesses in recognition of the challenges faced by high street retailers. Hammond told Sky News he believed “the nature of the offer on the high street” was changing permanently. “There’s going to be less retail, more leisure, bars, community facilities,” he said. [...]
Apple denies reports that Siri is recording private conversations | City A.M. August 8, 2018 Apple has hit back at claims that its voice assistant Siri is recording conversations without user permission. In a reply to US lawmakers issued late last night, Apple said that its iPhones require users to give microphone access to Siri and third-party apps, with it being clearly stated if an app is listening at any [...]
The creator of the Lion King just raised $1bn for a new Netflix | City A.M. August 7, 2018 The former Disney chairman who produced films such as The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin has scored a total of $1bn (£772m) for his Netflix and Youtube competitor startup, in a seed funding round closed today. Led by Jeffrey Katzenberg alongside former Hewlett Packard and Ebay chief executive Meg Whitman, the startup temporarily [...]
Nasdaq website shows Apple hitting a $1,000,000,000,000 valuation | City A.M. August 2, 2018 The Nasdaq’s website showed Apple finally hitting a $1 trillion valuation on Thursday afternoon – but some analysts warned it still has a little way to go to reach the landmark. Apple’s share price is trading at $205.52 at the time of writing, taking it over the trillion-dollar mark by more than $10bn, according to [...]
Starbucks confirms partnership with Alibaba in a bid to increase China sales | City A.M. August 2, 2018 Starbucks is officially partnering with Alibaba in an effort to boost its delivery and online Chinese presence. The tie-up comes after an abrupt drop in Starbucks’ China sales in June, which was pinned on a crackdown on third-party delivery firms that had helped propel orders in its stores. Starbucks chief executive Kevin Johnson told reporters: [...]
The tech sector needs to boost gender diversity and get more women into the industry August 2, 2018 Gender diversity in the technology sector remains a hotly debated topic, amid scandals, global campaigns, and social media movements. Simply put, there is still not enough diversity. Take a look at the US. Examine the employee data for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet’s Google (four members of the illustrious FAANG stocks), and you will find [...]
Can Apple win the trillion-dollar race today? | City A.M. August 1, 2018 After a bumper set of results last night, Apple is riding on a high that could take it all the way to a trillion-dollar market valuation. Apple’s share price has leaped up to 4.11 per cent in pre-market trading, at a value of $198.11 (£151) per share. If it’s to break the trillion-dollar mark, Apple [...]
FAANGs out: Tech stocks open on a positive note after a bumpy earnings season | City A.M. July 31, 2018 Wall Street’s top tech stocks group have taken big hits this earning season, causing a stark difference in share prices across the board. However things seemed to pick up as markets opened in the US this afternoon, as falling prices pulled back on a bad week. The so-called FAANGs group – consisting of Facebook, Apple, [...]
Retail tech startup behind Tesco and Argos valued at almost £70m, after scoring additional funding | City A.M. July 31, 2018 Virtualstock, a London tech startup which provides cloud-based inventory solutions for retailers like Tesco, Argos and John Lewis, today announced a further £3.4m in funding which has valued the business at almost £70m. Rene Schuster, the former chief executive of telecoms giant Telefonica in Germany, is also joining the firm as its chairman. The funds, [...]
Amazon (AMZN) doubles down on profits, but misses estimates on revenue | City A.M. July 26, 2018 Amazon doubled consensus estimates on profits in its second quarter, as results released tonight revealed a staggering 1,157.5 per cent increase year-on-year in earnings per share. The company reported shareholder earnings for the quarter at $5.07 (£3.86), outperforming estimates collated by S&P Global Market Intelligence which predicted $2.54. In the same quarter in 2017, Amazon [...]