The changing face of world shares March 22, 2018 The US market represents more than one half of the total quoted wealth in world shares. It is, however, a very different pattern of wealth holdings from previous decades, reflecting the huge changes underway in business models and customer preference. Looking at just how much the index has changed is a good way of mirroring [...]
Black Friday 2016: Here are the best deals available on Amazon today November 21, 2016 Black Friday is no longer just a day – it has evolved into a week of deals. Today is no exception: and if you think "there's never anything for me in the deals", think again. Spending is expected to hit £2bn this year as online retailers discount items left, right and centre. Here's what you can get [...]
What Apple needs to do to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company January 11, 2018 It hasn’t exactly been a happy new year for Apple. The tech giant rang in 2018 apologising to customers for deliberately slowing the performance of older iPhone models in a bid to spur new purchases. And this week, Apple investors Jana Partners and CalSTRS – which together own about $2bn of the company’s stock – [...]
Black Friday 2016: Eight of today’s best deals from Amazon November 14, 2016 Amazon kicked off two weeks of Black Friday deals this morning, with offers on products from CDs (old school) to TVs, headphones and, er, loo roll. For those sneaking in some early Christmas shopping while they're at work (we don't blame you), we'll list the best deals every day in the run-up to the annual [...]
Facebook’s reign of unpunished rule-breaking is coming to an end March 23, 2018 Sorry seems to be the hardest word, they say. And for tech-superstar-turned-virtual-antichrist Mark Zuckerberg, it certainly seems difficult. The scandal over the unorthodox use of Facebook user data by political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica isn’t going away. It’s been nearly a week since the Guardian profiled whistleblower Christopher Wylie, who explains how the company scraped [...]
Amazon’s Japan office reportedly raided August 8, 2016 The offices of Amazon in Japan were raided by authorities, according to local media. Officials from the Fair Trade Commission, the country's competition watchdog, were probing the retail giant's offices on suspicions that it unfairly forced sellers to favour its own platform over rival ones, according to Nikkei. Read more: Prime Day was the biggest [...]
Full stream ahead: With Spotify opting for an unusual IPO route, should investors be wary? March 20, 2018 Spotify, the streaming giant that prides itself on helping people discover music, is about to go public. The company plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange on 2 April, but it’s doing things differently – opting for a direct listing instead. This means that, instead of issuing shares, the private investors and [...]
Just Eat share price inches up as competition watchdog clears takeover of Hungryhouse November 16, 2017 Just Eat’s takeover of Hungryhouse has been officially cleared to go ahead by the competition regulator. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said today that a group of independent panel members found that the merger does not raise competition concerns. In the CMA’s provisional findings, published last month, it stated that Hungryhouse presently provides limited [...]
The EU is taking Ireland to court over Apple’s €13bn tax bill October 4, 2017 Brussels is taking further action in a landmark tax case involving Apple and Ireland. Europe’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager today said the European Commission is taking Ireland to court over its failure to collect a record €13bn (£11.5bn) in back taxes from Apple. The EC last year ruled that a favourable “sweetheart” deal over tax [...]
Open banking is a test of trust for financial firms: What lenders face in their quest to win customers’ confidence March 5, 2018 Open banking, the new initiative threatening to tear up the banking rule book, has the power to revolutionise how people manage their money. For the first time, customers will be able to give companies other than their bank access to their financial data, opening retail and business banking to fresh competition and delivering more choice, [...]