Three reasons why Amazon’s $50m deal with the NFL is the most significant moment yet for sport’s live streaming revolution April 6, 2017 We read news on our phones, binge-watch TV shows on our laptop and stream our music from the internet. Live sport on TV is yet to be disrupted in a similar manner, but Amazon’s $50m deal to live stream 10 Thursday night NFL games — a significant increase on the $10m Twitter paid for the [...]
Card clash: Mastercard UK’s Mark Barnett on the battle for payments market share October 15, 2018 The likelihood is that, reading this, you have a Visa debit card somewhere on your person. Only two per cent of Britons currently have a Mastercard debit card, but that will change shortly after a string of wins for the US giant which will see its market share increase by 10 times. TSB and Santander [...]
Sky post a solid set of figures July 26, 2018 Sky revealed a solid set of full-year results as earnings jumped by 9 per cent and like-for-like (LFL) revenue rose by 5 per cent. Average revenue per user held steady at £45. The company had a strong finish to the year as it added 20,000 new customers in the UK and Ireland. In the final three [...]
Spotify begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange amid Wall Street tech rout April 3, 2018 Music streaming service Spotify began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today at $165.90 (£117), a 34 per cent increase on the initial set reference price. The opening price puts the company’s value at nearly $30bn, making it one of the largest US listings for a tech company in history. The public listing [...]
It’s hubris to believe that we can or should reshape the economy September 6, 2018 On Wednesday, the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, fronted the final report of the IPPR’s Commission on Economic Justice. It makes an interesting read, but is otherwise a completely over-the-top attack on current economic policy, with a wishlist of mainly unworkable policies attached. It begins with an examination of everything that the Commission – made [...]
Amazon’s delivery drones could one day be dropping packages by parachute February 15, 2017 Amazon has filed another very interesting patent. At the end of last year, it was revealed Amazon had filed a patent for a flying airship warehouse designed to speed up drone deliveries. As you do. And now the US Patent and Trademark Office has granted the e-commerce giant a patent for a new way to deliver [...]
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 [...]
Busting the millennial myth February 11, 2019 Last month I was invited to present at a conference in Berlin; I spent a couple of days preparing and got up at 4am to fly over. The speaker before me confidently told the audience that millennials lacked their elders’ work ethic so would drag down productivity and GDP growth. As I took to the [...]
Amazon’s sales jumped in the last quarter, but it missed analyst targets February 2, 2017 Online retail giant Amazon.com's share price fell four per cent in after-hours trading as operating income and revenue for the fourth quarter fell lower than expected. The figures Amazon reported a 22.4 per cent increase in its fourth-quarter revenue, driven by strong sales in the holiday period and increased Prime subscriptions. Net sales were up [...]
Cowardice over the housing crisis is pushing young Brits towards the spectre of 1970s socialism July 23, 2018 As the government creaks alarmingly under the weight of Brexit, it may seem odd – if not downright contrarian – to kickstart a discussion about the housing crisis. For many Brexiteers such as myself, Brexit is not a moment in time or a destination in itself. It is not a chance to relive the past, [...]