Amazon smashes expectations with sales of $51bn for the first quarter April 26, 2018 Amazon smashed analyst expectations tonight with stellar revenue and profit figures for the first quarter. The online retailer’s shares jumped more than seven per cent in after hours trading following the announcement. Amazon’s sales increased by 43 per cent to $51bn (£36.7bn), from $35.7bn last year. Read more: Top retailers pull ahead of other business [...]
Revolut smashes into unicorn ranks with $250m fundraising ahead of international expansion April 26, 2018 London-based fintech startup Revolut has joined the elite ranks of so-called unicorn firms with a $1.7bn (£1.2bn) valuation following a new $250m fundraising. Tech investor DST Global put up around half of the new money, alongside existing investors including Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital. The money will be used to target an aggressive expansion into [...]
Apple posted second quarter results on May 1 but have smartphone sales peaked and what impact will this have on iPhone X? April 24, 2018 Apple releases its latest set of quarterly results next Tuesday and Wall Street is fretting about the figures. People are hanging onto their smartphones for longer, prompting concerns about growth. Second-quarter results from US technology major Apple, which will be released on Tuesday 1 May, are arguably one of the most important set of results [...]
Facebook prepares to reveal extent of the Cambridge Analytica damage in first quarter results, with Amazon and Alphabet (Google) also up for scrutiny April 22, 2018 Facebook is preparing to reveal the damage caused by recent data scandals on Wednesday, in a week which will also see Amazon and Google’s parent Alphabet lift the lid on their latest figures. Just weeks after the news broke that Cambridge Analytica had potentially used data mined from Facebook without users’ knowledge to influence elections, [...]
What Facebook’s downfall will mean for the future of fintech April 20, 2018 The year began with headlines predicting the entrance of Facebook and Google into the banking market, following the introduction of new Open Banking rules which forced banks and payment companies to share data with third parties if customers agreed. The changes were meant to boost account switching and improve price comparison, but some speculated that [...]
It’s about time the regulators came for the tech behemoths April 11, 2018 How much changes in six months. Last year, the idea that the FANGs (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) would look increasingly vulnerable to regulatory oversight and to the tweets of Donald Trump would be considered fantasy – or a nightmare. Now, regulation for three of the four is a definite possibility, and for Facebook and [...]
London-based food delivery startup City Pantry which serves lunches to Amazon and Google raises £4m from Octopus April 9, 2018 A startup which delivers food from local caterers directly to offices in the City has raised £4m to expand across the UK. City Pantry, which already serves clients such as Amazon, Google, Spotify and Unilever, currently serves over 20,000 meals every week to the employees of more than 500 companies. Octopus Investments led the latest [...]
Sequoia Fund picks up Facebook stake despite “unquestionable sins” April 9, 2018 The Sequoia Fund has bought a stake in scandal-stricken Facebook despite its share price slumping in recent weeks. In a note to investors, Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb, the mutual fund’s manager, said it purchased a “small” stake in Facebook towards the end of the first quarter. “Though Facebook has unquestionably committed sins for which it [...]
Facebook’s Icarus needs to come down to earth before it’s too late April 9, 2018 Mark Zuckerberg is facing his Icarus moment. The tale of the boy who flew too close to the sun would make uncomfortable reading for the Facebook founder. “Move fast and break things” was the mantra that made Zuckerberg such a totem of sky-high success. But lax privacy controls and the leaking of the information of [...]
Lovefilm founder Simon Franks reportedly behind £50m push to found new centrist party April 8, 2018 The multimillionaire founder of the Lovefilm film rental service is running a £50m project to start a new political party, according to reports. Simon Franks, who co-founded the DVD rental and streaming service before it was sold to Amazon in 2011, is the director of a company, Project One Movement for the UK, which will [...]