The technology paradox: It will kill jobs but rescue Britain’s economy August 5, 2012 THE LATEST GDP numbers were awful. The UK economy shrank by 0.7 per cent. But rather than embarking on political blame-games, we must face a stark fact: the economy needs a clean-out. All the fiscal and monetary levers have been pulled, and they haven’t worked. A much bigger story is at play – digital technology [...]
APPLE SUED OVER PRICE OF E-BOOKS April 11, 2012 THE US GOVERNMENT sued Apple and five major book publishers yesterday for colluding to fix the prices of e-books in a fight against growing competition from Amazon. The lawsuit filed in a New York district court accused Apple and publishing executives of “devising schemes” to limit Amazon’s ability to discount e-books after the online retailer’s [...]
Sky Movies is cleared in probe thanks to Lovefilm and Netflix May 23, 2012 SATELLITE broadcaster BSkyB no longer dominates the pay-TV movie market following the arrival of new entrants Lovefilm and Netflix, the competition watchdog said yesterday in a reversal of its initial findings. But the decision drew angry responses from Sky’s main rivals BT and Virgin, who said its Sky Movies channel reduces competition. Laura Carstensen, chairman of the [...]
Vodafone is top dividend payer in the FTSE 100 May 22, 2012 VODAFONE yesterday became the UK’s highest dividend payer after hiking its shareholder payout for the year by 52 per cent to 13.52p. Announcing its full year results, the telco giant said it paid out a total of £10.2bn to shareholders in fiscal 2011, including £3.6bn in a share buyback and £2bn from the reapings of [...]
20 of the world’s largest donors December 20, 2012 1 BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION US The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was formed in 2000 through the merger of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, adopting their previous agendas of improving global health and education. With offices in the US, India, China and UK, the foundation has a global [...]
Amazon unveils its iPad killer September 28, 2011 AMAZON yesterday seized the initiative in the tablet wars, unveiling a new device that will sell for just half the price of an iPad 2. The world’s biggest online retailer hopes the Kindle Fire, priced at just $199 (£127), will build on the success of its range of e-readers. The launch is the first serious [...]
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is much more than a bookseller: He’s the Everyman entrepreneur October 30, 2011 WITH the Kindle Fire, Amazon.com chief executive Jeff Bezos is showing the world that he’s much more than an online retailer. The original Kindle, released in 2007, was the first piece of electronic hardware Amazon ever produced, and it revolutionised the electronic book business. Wall Street analysts expect Amazon to sell about 26m Kindle devices [...]
Facebook is set for record breaking IPO May 17, 2012 FACEBOOK is set to become the third largest float in US history later today, after pricing its shares at $38 each – giving the social network a $104bn (£65bn) valuation and raising an eye-watering $16bn. Only General Motors and credit card firm Visa have had bigger IPOs and the offering gives the eight-year-old company, founded in [...]
Facebook is set for record breaking IPO May 17, 2012 FACEBOOK is set to become the third largest float in US history later today, after pricing its shares at $38 each – giving the social network a $104bn (£65bn) valuation and raising an eye-watering $16bn. Only General Motors and credit card firm Visa have had bigger IPOs and the offering gives the eight-year-old company, founded in [...]
Nasdaq admits to errors during Facebook’s IPO May 20, 2012 THE CHIEF exec of Nasdaq admitted yesterday that technical problems delayed the opening of Facebook’s initial public offering (IPO) last week. Robert Greifeld said the bungled start was “not our finest hour” after the exchange’s IT system failed to cope with high levels of demand. Eventually, the $38 shares opened at $42 on Friday and [...]