US stocks rise with tech firms poised to rally – New York Report April 20, 2015 CHINA also boosted Wall Street yesterday as shares ended sharply higher, also buoyed by investors snapping up technology stocks on cautious optimism over upcoming earnings reports. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 208.63 points, or 1.17 per cent, to end at 18,034.93. The S&P 500 gained 19.22 points, or 0.92 per cent, to 2,100.4, and [...]
The Rosebery founder Simon Davis on scrapheaps, sewing, MOTs and Angelina Jolie September 20, 2015 Did you know that Jeff Bezos used to photograph everyone he met so he wouldn't forget who they were? Neither did I, but when Simon Davis interviewed him, Amazon was still a startup – and it's just one of several gems Davis, founder of the London Restaurant Festival (LRF), The Rosebery and former journalist, wheels [...]
Amazon joining with Doddle to start railway station collections June 23, 2014 AMAZON customers will soon be able to pick up parcels from railway stations as part of a new deal between the online retail giant and Doddle, the click-and-collect joint venture between Network Rail and Travelex millionaire Lloyd Dorfman. Doddle is currently running a pilot operation at Milton Keynes station, with plans to expand the service [...]
Amazon takes on Spotify with Prime Music service June 12, 2014 Amazon launched a music service yesterday that came free with its £79-a-year Prime membership programme, but offers a smaller selection of songs than Spotify. The new feature, Prime Music, allows subscribers to stream or download over a million songs without added fees or ads. This is one of many steps Amazon has taken in recent [...]
Amazon Kindle Unlimited: £6 a month “Netflix for books” ebook subscription service launches July 18, 2014 Amazon has officially launched its new book subscription service Kindle Unlimited after details of the new offering leaked earlier in the week. Dubbed the “Netflix for books”, Amazon Unlimited will offer customers unlimited access to selected books and audiobooks, including best sellers such as Harry Potter and the Hunger Games, for a monthly fee of [...]
The non-bank of Facebook, AliBay, and AI: The future of global fintech March 5, 2015 The global fintech industry has seen some remarkable developments since we launched Level39 two years ago. But what of the future? I’d like to suggest two possibilities for what might happen, and challenge one that, contrary to some current thinking, I don’t think will. FACEBOOK: THE NON-BANK BANK More than any other social media platform, [...]
Amazon hit with lawsuit from US regulator over unauthorised app downloads by kids July 10, 2014 The Federal Trade Commission is suing Amazon for allowing kids to make in-app purchases without parental consent resulting in millions of dollars of charges being incurred by parents. The lawsuit is seeking to make Amazon refund the money and prevent the retailer from allowing any purchases without a password on its Kindle Fire devices. Many [...]
Amazon’s lockers arrive in London Tube station car parks June 25, 2014 Amazon has introduced new lockers at Finchley Central and Newbury Park tube station car parks in a partnership between the online retail giant and Transport for London that will let customers collect their purchases at the lockers – like they can do in some Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s car parks. Amazon has lockers in over [...]
Barclays fears Amazon and Google threaten traditional banks June 10, 2014 Customers will soon use tech firms like Amazon, Google and PayPal instead of banks, Barclays’ chief Antony Jenkins said today, promising to innovate more to compete with digital giants. The sector is already being shaken up by new banks being established, and big firms like Tesco offering current accounts. But Jenkins believes the [...]
Marks & Spencer patches up sales at clothing arm March 29, 2015 Marks and Spencer is expected to report an improvement in sales at its general merchandise arm as the retailer recovers from its recent warehousing debacle and thanks to fewer clothes being left on the shelves. Citi, joint broker to M&S, expects the high street chain to report a 0.1 per cent decline in underlying sales [...]