Sadiq Khan tasks advisers to create emerging tech plan for London July 30, 2020 Sadiq Khan has tasked his advisers with identifying which emerging technology trends would most benefit London and its residents, as he seeks upgrade the capital’s infrastructure and policies. The mayor of London has appointed his chief digital officer Theo Blackwell and the Smart London Board to create an Emerging Technology Charter, which will set out [...]
The City View: Surrey cricket chief Richard Gould July 29, 2020 Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS Today Andy Silvester is joined by Richard Gould, chief executive of Surrey County Cricket Club. Richard talks about the business of sport, the trial events at the Kia Oval and the future of cricket as it looks to attract new audiences. Andy also looks at Barclays results and Jes [...]
Big Tech vs Congress live: Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon face Washington grilling July 29, 2020 Welcome to City A.M.’s Big Tech vs Congress live blog. Please refresh this page for live updates. Big Tech faces its day of reckoning today as the world’s four biggest tech moguls appear before the US Congress in Washington to face a grilling over their companies’ size and power. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, [...]
Mike Ashley’s Game offloads UK e-sports arena network July 29, 2020 Game Digital is selling off its Belong Gaming e-sports arena network to US startup Vindex, following the forced closure of its locations during the coronavirus pandemic. New York-based Vindex intends to immediately begin rolling out new locations across the US, with Game Digital’s chief executive Martyn Gibbs to join the firm as Belong’s new boss. [...]
Tiktok boss attacks Facebook as parent firm weighs $50bn takeover bid July 29, 2020 Tiktok’s chief executive Kevin Mayer has launched a stinging rebuttal against Facebook, accusing it of using patriotism as a way to unfairly target the short-form video app. In a blog post today, Mayer criticised Facebook for pushing for higher scrutiny on Tiktok’s Chinese origins. “At TikTok we welcome competition. We think fair competition makes all [...]
Turkey passes controversial law to regulate social media content July 29, 2020 Turkey today passed a law which allows the government to control social media platforms, despite strong criticism that it will increase censorship in the country. The law requires foreign social media sites to appoint representatives based in Turkey to address authorities’ concerns over content. Officials can set deadlines for removal of material they take exception [...]
Samsung mulls ditching App Store and virtual assistant in possible Google tie-up July 29, 2020 Samsung is said to be considering plans to drop its own Galaxy App Store and its virtual assistant Bixby in favour of signing a deal with Google’s Android competitor. The tie-up would mark a major change for Samsung, which has consistently clung to using its own services rather than adopting Google’s offering. Google has tried [...]
Rising demand boosts Spotify to 138m paid users July 29, 2020 Spotify said today it had recovered from a coronavirus-related damp start to the second quarter, beating Wall Street expectations to report 138m in paid users. Subscribers to its Premium service, which accounts for most of the company’s revenue, were up 27 per cent from a year earlier. Analyst had on average forecast the company to [...]
The City takes the lead as Ebay reports 335 per cent jump in UK businesses July 29, 2020 The number of UK businesses signing up to become sellers on Ebay spiked more than 300 per cent in June, with the City of London taking the top spot for the most new companies on the site during lockdown. Ebay said the number of new businesses on its website jumped 335 per cent in June [...]
Sales plunge at Gucci owner Kering as 2020 outlook remains unclear July 28, 2020 Luxury group Kering said sales plunged almost 44 per cent in the second quarter due to the coronavirus pandemic, adding it could not provide a forecast for the second half of 2020. The Gucci owner’s revenue was a touch better than analyst expectations, however, with those at UBS citing estimates for a 46 per cent [...]
