Judgement day looms for speedster Jon February 11, 2010 2010 WINTER OLYMPICS JON Eley will have to hope his bold promises don’t come back to haunt him as he prepares to start his Winter Olympic medal bid. In Turin four years ago the short track speed skater finished fifth in the men’s 500m final – and promptly promised an upgrade in Vancouver. “I’ll be [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 8, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES C&W ARM EYES ASIA EXPANSION AFTER LISTING Cable & Wireless’s UK business is stepping up its efforts to achieve growth in emerging markets as it secures a stock market listing later this month. The business, called C&W Worldwide, will focus on opportunities in Asia, Jim Marsh, its chief executive, told the Financial Times [...]
An investment gap is hindering UK start-ups February 8, 2010 A thriving technology sector is a key driver for success against the background of a weak economic recovery and an ongoing debate about the relative values of the service economy and declining manufacturing base of the UK economy. The UK has no shortage of profitable technology companies. But for every Autonomy and Monitise there is [...]
City advisers gearing up for a flood of M&A January 20, 2010 ABBEY National, Rover, Corus. Just three Great British companies that have fallen prey to foreign predators in recent years. You can add Cadbury to that list now that the board has recommended the takeover approach from American rival Kraft – an £11.7bn deal which is likely to be waved through by institutional investors. Forget the [...]
Bankers must get act together December 21, 2009 IT SEEMS an age away now but back in July, on one of those long summer evenings that makes London such a marvellous place to live in, a group of the country’s foremost politicians, business leaders and bankers gathered at the home of Roland Rudd. Rudd, the founder of the City’s foremost public relations firm [...]
Vivendi will sell its stake in NBC to GE December 1, 2009 THE French conglomerate Vivendi has agreed in principle to sell its 20 per cent stake in US media giant NBC Universal to majority shareholder General Electric for $5.8bn (£3.5bn). The move will allow GE, which owns the other 80 per cent, to push ahead with its proposals to create a $30bn joint venture with US [...]
Business needs to win back public trust February 24, 2010 LET’S be blunt: there’s a serious problem with corporate governance. Corporate trust is being eroded and unless something is done, this trend will continue. Edelman PR publish an annual Trust Barometer, which tracks public trust in major institutions across all sectors. The latest barometer shows – unsurprisingly – that trust in politics was “volatile”, while [...]
Will the iPad become the latest must-have device? January 27, 2010 APPLE’S product launches are legendary, but the hype that surrounded the unveiling of its iPad yesterday was without precedent. At first glance, the device looks like an iPhone on steroids. Its ambitions are even bigger: it is supposed to revolutionise the way we surf the internet, watch television and movies, and read books and newspapers. [...]
The law firm boss who says his US merger is set to take on the world February 28, 2010 For a man weeks away from the biggest deal of his life, Lovells’ managing partner David Harris has a remarkably light air about him. On 1 May the City institution – it can trace its history back to 1899 – will merge with US rival Hogan Hartson to create one of the world’s largest law [...]
Davos is outdated as power is redistributed February 1, 2010 So you didn’t go to the World Economic Forum in Davos this year. Me neither. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. As Davos coverage spun through the media again this year, I wondered whether those 2,000 people who do go actually control the future of business. Is it just my wishful thinking that power [...]