Just Eat bags deal to deliver McDonald’s January 28, 2020 Just Eat today became the second UK delivery firm to partner with McDonald’s after signing a multi-million-pound deal with the fast food chain. The delivery giant, which is set to enter a £6bn merger with Dutch firm Takeaway.com, said the partnership will hit the road later this year. It comes as a blow to rival Uber [...]
Competition watchdog ploughs ahead with investigation into JD Sports’ Footasylum takeover October 1, 2019 Britain’s competition watchdog has decided to plough ahead with an investigation into JD Sports’ £90m takeover of Footasylum. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has referred the deal to an in-depth probe amid concerns that it could potentially result in higher prices and less competition. Read more: CMA warns that JD Sports deal with Footasylum [...]
Competition watchdog intervenes in Daily Mail’s takeover of i newspaper December 6, 2019 The competition watchdog today said it has served an initial enforcement order as it reviews the Daily Mail’s £50m takeover of the i newspaper. Read more: Daily Mail owner buys i newspaper for £50m The order, also known as a hold separate arrangement, means parent company Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) will be forced [...]
Scammers can create fake Facebook and Google ads ‘within hours’ July 6, 2020 Lax controls on Google and Facebook enable scammers to create and post adverts for fake businesses within just a few hours, according to an investigation. Harry Rose, editor of Which magazine, said it was “worryingly easy for fraudsters to create adverts promoting scams for fake products and services”. Which created two linked fake companies – [...]
Exclusive: O2 exec on the £31bn mega merger with Virgin Media and why mobile is the future June 30, 2021 O2’s recently approved £31bn tie-up with Virgin Media will speed up investment in telecoms infrastructure and bolster the UK’s post-pandemic recovery, the mobile network’s boss said recently. The mega-merger, agreed last year by O2 owner Telefonica and Virgin Media parent Liberty Global, received final approval last month after an in-depth probe by regulators amid concerns [...]
With the CMA scrutinising the Big Four, can we still trust auditors? October 11, 2018 With the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) scrutinising the Big Four, can we still trust auditors? Yes – Michael Izza is chief executive of the ICAEW. Every year, hundreds of thousands of audits are performed to the highest professional and ethical standards. Auditors underpin business confidence by providing independent verification that a company’s financial statements [...]
Zuckerberg defends Facebook: ‘Companies aren’t bad just because they’re big’ July 29, 2020 Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg is set to tell Congress that “companies aren’t bad just because they are big,” as the world’s biggest social media company today faces a historic investigation into its size and power. Zuckerberg is expected to tell the US Congress that Facebook became successful “the American way, by starting out with nothing [...]
Future shares boosted after short-seller launches attack February 3, 2020 Publishing group Future saw its shares rise seven per cent this morning, just days after the firm came under attack from a short-seller over the price of its stock. In a trading update, the media group, which publishes specialist trade magazines, said it had continued to grow audience numbers and had seen strong revenue growth. [...]
Arqiva’s £2bn telecoms takeover cleared by competition watchdog April 22, 2020 A £2bn takeover of Arqiva’s telecoms infrastructure division by Spanish rival Cellnex has been cleared by the competition watchdog. The merger, which agreed in October, will make Cellnex the largest independent operator of mobile masts in the UK, adding roughly 7,400 sites to its portfolio. The deal will also give the Spanish firm rights to [...]
Watchdog launches investigation into Amazon’s Deliveroo investment October 16, 2019 The competition watchdog has launched a probe into Amazon’s investment in food delivery app Deliveroo. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today said it would investigate whether Amazon’s investment would “result in a substantial lessening of competition”. The e-commerce giant led a $575m funding round in Deliveroo in May. Read more: CMA puts brakes on [...]