INM hands Lebedev £9m to take Indy March 25, 2010 THE Independent newspapers were yesterday sold to Russian billionaire and former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev for £1. Independent News and Media (INM) will pay Evening Standard owner Lebedev £9.25m over the next 10 months, effectively compensating him for taking the beleaguered newspapers off its hands. Lebedev has set up a new vehicle, Independent Print Limited, [...]
Blockbuster puts Euro arm up for sale March 14, 2010 FILM rental chain Blockbuster has put its European arm up for sale, it emerged yesterday. The indebted US company wants to sell its European division, which it values at about £50m, to raise cash, a report said. Blockbuster has hired corporate finance house Winchester Capital to find a buyer for the European arm, which has [...]
How Herbert Smith’s new boss will take on the big boys of global law May 16, 2010 THIS WEEK Jonathan Scott takes up his five-year post as senior partner for venerable City law firm Herbert Smith, and many observers bet that somewhere on the desk of his fourth floor office at the practice’s Primrose Street headquarters there is an A4 sheet of paper with just two words on it – overseas expansion. [...]
The biggest Mad Man in the world still retains a close eye for detail April 7, 2010 This downturn is evidently really beginning to get on the nerves of WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell. He says: “People’s expectations have shifted. Company profits were down 30 per cent in 2008, now that they were only down, say, 13 per cent last year, they are calling that good. But if profits keep falling [...]
Ofcom rules will allow BT to offer free football TV March 15, 2010 BT is allowed to offer free Premier League football as Ofcom has already withdrawn restrictions preventing the firm offering “bundle” deals. The former state operator was governed by strict laws aimed at improving competition. But recent changes mean BT would be allowed to tie up Premier League matches with its broadband and fixed-line services. The [...]
FSA right to probe – but care needed March 31, 2010 FOR everybody’s sake, let us hope the Financial Services Authority knows what it is doing. Its massive insider trading raids have certainly shaken up the City – wherever one goes in the Square Mile, in Canary Wharf and in Mayfair, people are talking about the probe. This was exactly what the FSA wanted to achieve: [...]
Spend £1bn on education, Goldman April 20, 2010 HERE is a suggestion for Goldman Sachs: make an immediate £1bn donation to a special new fund for financial and economic education. Then try and rope in a few more of the big banks and financial institutions, all of whom may be happy to stump up to deflect the tidal wave of populist anti-bonus and [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 28, 2010 ARCHANT The media giant has appointed Mike Walsh, a leading figure in the worlds of advertising, brand marketing and charities, to its main Board as a non-executive director. Walsh is currently a director at advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather South Africa and a non executive at global brand identity and design company, The Brand Union. [...]
FORTY YEARS ON AND WE SEEM TO HAVE LEARNED VERY FEW LESSONS May 24, 2010 WHEN you are older than God, as I am, I think you tend to become rather blasé as yet another political or financial crisis unfolds. I was 23 and working as an impecunious bank clerk at Hill Samuel (now part of Lloyds Banking Group, for the youth among you) when I was exposed to my [...]
Informa focuses on hosting big events after weathering worst of recession March 2, 2010 MEDIA group Informa’s cost cutting measures cushioned the worst effects of the tough trading conditions it faced in the last year. The firm, which holds conference events and publishes academic material, said bookings for large exhibitions were improving after a drop in demand during the recession. Its revenue fell organically by 14 per cent in [...]