Bezos open to testifying before Congress on anti-competitive behaviour June 15, 2020 Amazon has told US politicians it will make chief executive Jeff Bezos available to testify before Congress as part of a widespread antitrust investigation into Big Tech. The e-commerce giant had previously resisted calls for Bezos to appear before lawmakers, prompting threats from members of the House Judiciary Committee to force him to testify. A [...]
Microsoft’s Github drops ‘slave’ and ‘master’ terms amid protests June 15, 2020 Code repository giant Github has said it is ditching parts of traditional software jargon to avoid causing offence as anti-racism protests continue worldwide. Chief executive Nat Friedman said Github is developing a transition away from “master” — a term for the main version of code — to something more neutral. As the world’s largest website [...]
Whatsapp rolls out first wave of in-app digital payments June 15, 2020 Messaging platform Whatsapp today launched its first nationwide rollout of digital payments, starting in Brazil. Users will be able to send payments inside a Whatsapp chat to individuals or businesses in a similar way to attaching a picture or video to a message. The rollout follows an initial testing period in India two years ago, [...]
Tesla revs up in China as car registrations boom June 15, 2020 Car registrations for US electric carmaker Tesla jumped 150 per cent month on month in May, as China gets back on track after lockdown. Tesla’s China registrations, including cars that were imported, grew to 11,565 in May from 4,633 units in April. Data from the China Passenger Car Association publisuhed today showed sales of Tesla’s [...]
Softbank triples spending on share buybacks in June to £1.4bn June 15, 2020 Japanese investment giant Softbank has ramped up share buybacks this month, more than tripling its purchases month on month. Filings released today showed Softbank has spent ¥188.3bn (£1.4bn) on buying back shares between 1 June and 15 June, compared to ¥61bn for the entire month of May. The acceleration takes the total amount spent by [...]
Record contraction expected for UK economy in second quarter June 15, 2020 The UK economy is forecast to contract by 15 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, a fresh report has said, setting a new record as businesses struggle to operate during lockdown. The EY Item Club had previously forecast the contraction at 13 per cent, but adjusted the figures to reflect poor economic performance [...]
World’s largest container ship docks on the Thames June 15, 2020 The world’s largest container ship has concluded its maiden voyage to the UK, anchoring at the DP World London Gateway port in Essex. Measuring up at 400m in length and 61m in width, the HMM Algeciras is longer than the height of the Shard. The vessel arrived on British shores following a journey that began [...]
Three in ten independent retailers to stay shut today June 15, 2020 Thirty per cent of independent retailers are planning to keep their doors closed today, as lockdown restrictions ease and allow some shops to reopen. Just over a third of stores predicted they would be trading at pre-lockdown levels by December 2020, rising to 56 per cent who felt they would be back to normal by [...]
Majority of businesses expect growth to slump after coronavirus passes June 15, 2020 British businesses are pessimistic about their growth once the coronavirus crisis passes, as they continue to face significant obstacles to running normal operations. A survey commissioned by UK Finance and undertaken by BDRC found that the Covid-19 crisis has negatively impacted nearly 70 per cent of businesses in Britain. Three out of five (60 per [...]
Unilever to invest €1bn in climate-focused fund June 14, 2020 Consumer giant Unilever will today reveal a dedicated fund to combatting climate change, with a total investment of €1bn to be spent over the next decade. The investment will be made across all of its brands, which include household names such as Ben & Jerry’s, Knorr and Vaseline. Named the Climate and Nature Fund, Unilever [...]