(Brands & Consumers)
Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim has joined Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in submitting a second bid to buy Manchester United. A representative for Sheikh Jassim said on Saturday they put in a revised bid overnight. On Thursday, Ratcliffe put in his second bid after Wednesday’s confusion and extended deadline.It followed Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus stating…
Twitter’s free blue “verified” checkmarks for notable users may finally be coming to an end. Ever since Elon Musk took control of the company in October, he’s been threatening to remove the “legacy” checkmarks that confirmed the identities of users like government officials, corporations, journalists, celebrities and other high-profile tweeters. Now Musk may follow through:…
Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook gave a show of support for China as a market and manufacturing base during a visit to Beijing Saturday, even as trade and tech sector tensions escalate between the United States and the world’s second-largest economy. As reported on CNN, Apple and China had “grown together” over the past three…
Nearly three years after the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok if its Chinese owner didn’t sell the company to American investors, the video app is once again facing an existential threat. On Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Chew appeared before US lawmakers, many of whom want the app banned in the United States because of…
Huawei’s newest foldable phone, the Mate X3, is an impressively thin and light book-style foldable phone. It was unveiled Thursday alongside the non-foldable flagship P60 series. The Mate X3 has a 6.4-inch cover screen that unfolds to make way for a 7.85-inch inner screen. Despite the presence of two screens, the Mate X3 weighs 239…
As Elon Musk promised, Twitter’s previous blue check-mark verification regime will soon be history. As reported o Variety, the social network, which the mega-billionaire bought last year in a debt-heavy $44 billion deal, announced on Thursday that starting April 1, it will remove the verified check-mark status of accounts that Twitter had been verified as…
New rules from the US government could soon let Americans more easily cancel free trials and subscriptions they no longer want, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The proposed rule change announced would apply to vast swaths of the US economy, covering both digital and physical subscriptions. Products subject to the new rule would include…
Job listing website Indeed.com will cut approximately 2,200 employees, representing almost 15% of its total workforce, the company has announced, as reported on CNN. “The cuts come from nearly every team, function, level and region,” at the company, CEO Chris Hyams said in a memo released by the company. “The specific decisions on who and…
China said it would “firmly oppose” any forced sale of TikTok, in its first direct response to demands by the Biden administration that the app’s Chinese owners sell their share of the company or face a ban in its most important market. As reported on CNN, the comments came as TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified…
PepsiCo has announced a $216 million multi-year investment in long-term, strategic partnership agreements with three of the most well-respected farmer-facing organizations – Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI), Soil and Water Outcomes Fund (SWOF), and the IL Corn Growers Association (ICGA) – to drive adoption of regenerative agriculture practices across the United States. The combined impact…
In a bid to increase the impact of African women entrepreneurs, the Coca-Cola Foundation has partnered with Women in Africa (WIA) through the JAMII Femmes initiative to support 20,000 women-led businesses across African countries. As reported on The Guardian, the initiative is expected to boost business creation opportunities by improving access to vocational training, networks,…
Accenture plans to slash 19,000 jobs worldwide as it attempts to cut costs amid a gloomy economic picture. The Irish-American professional services company said in a Thursday filing that it would spend $1.2 billion in severance to cut 2.5% of its workforce over the next 18 months, and another $300 million to consolidate its office…
Old-school advertising agency WPP has today moved to bolster its status in the social media space by acquiring an influencer marketing agency whose co-founder last year criticised the conglomerate’s digital strategy. The marketing behemoth founded by Sir Martin Sorrell acquired Goat from private equity fund Inflexion for an undisclosed fee. Founded in 2015 and based…
One of the greatest tales of marketing and sponsorships is perhaps the legendary partnership between Nike and Michael Jordan. In 1984, Jordan was a rookie on his way to the NBA, still relatively unknown nor was anyone quite aware of his success to come… except Nike. The sporting goods company took a major chance at…
Private firms are making increased profits as the government pays millions of pounds a day to put up asylum seekers in the UK, the BBC has learned. BBC News has been told 395 hotels are being used to house asylum seekers, as arrivals to the UK rose last year. Documents show one booking agency used…
Switzerland’s biggest bank, UBS, is in advanced talks to buy all or part of its troubled rival Credit Suisse. As reported on BBC, Credit Suisse is facing a crisis of confidence and its shares have fallen sharply in recent days, after it said it had found “material weakness” in its financial reporting. An emergency $54bn…
Last Friday, the biggest failure of a US bank since the global financial crisis was playing out in real time as a major lender to the tech industry succumbed to a classic bank run. Silicon Valley Bank’s customers were frantically pulling their money from the California-based lender before US regulators intervened to take control. But…
Amgen Inc (AMGN.O) said on Thursday it would cut 450 jobs, or less than 2% of its workforce, making it the company’s second round of layoffs this year amid intensifying pressure on drug prices and high inflation. “We made these changes to realign our expense base in the face of intensifying pressure on drug prices…
European Central Bank supervisors met to tackle growing cracks in the banking system on Friday after a $30 billion lifeline for U.S. lender First Republic Bank (FRC.N) eased fears of its imminent collapse. As reported on Reuters, large U.S. banks on Thursday swooped in to rescue the San Francisco-based bank, which was caught up in…
The telecommunications giant T-Mobile announced it’s buying the budget cell service provider Mint Mobile — best known for its ads with actor and part-owner Ryan Reynolds. The cash-and-stock deal, which includes two other brands, is worth $1.35 billion. As reported on NPR, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said Wednesday that the company would use its size…
Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) said on Thursday it would borrow up to $54 billion from Switzerland’s central bank to shore up liquidity and investor confidence, after a slump in its shares had intensified fears about a global banking crisis. As reported on Reuters, the bank’s announcement, which came in the middle of the night in Zurich,…
A coalition representing the Maine lobster industry is suing an aquarium on the other side of the country for recommending that seafood customers avoid buying a variety of lobster mostly harvested in their state. Industry groups including Maine Lobstermen’s Association are suing the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California for defamation, arguing in a lawsuit filed…
Virgin Orbit is furloughing nearly all its employees and pausing operations for a week as it looks for a funding lifeline, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. As reported on CNBC, shares of Virgin Orbit fell about 33% in after-hours trading from its Wednesday close of $1.01 a share. The stock has slid steadily…
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs. As reported on BBC, this marks the second wave of mass redundancies from the tech giant, which laid off 11,000 employees last November. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the cuts – part of a “year of efficiency” – would be…
Electronics giant Samsung says it plans to invest around 300tn won ($230.8bn; £189.6bn) over 20 years in the South Korean government’s push to develop a mega semiconductor hub in the country. This will be put towards building five chip factories, the firm told the BBC. Samsung is the world’s biggest maker of memory chips, smartphones…
AI-generated videos on YouTube are spreading malware. According to a research team at CloudSEK, there has been a 200-300% month-on-month increase in YouTube videos that contain links to stealer malware, a Trojan that gathers information like usernames and passwords from unsuspecting users. The videos spotted by researchers are masked as tutorials on ways to download…
OpenAI has released GPT-4, the latest version of its hugely popular artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. The new model can respond to images – providing recipe suggestions from photos of ingredients, for example, as well as writing captions and descriptions. It can also process up to 25,000 words, about eight times as many as ChatGPT. Millions…
A US court has ruled that “gig” economy giants including Uber and Lyft can continue treating their workers as independent contractors in the state of California. As reported on BBC, the California appeals court found that a labour measure, known as Proposition 22, was largely constitutional. Labour groups and some workers had opposed the measure,…
Investors and depositors tried to pull $42 billion from Silicon Valley Bank on Thursday in one of the biggest US bank runs in more than a decade, according to a Friday regulatory filing. At the close of business on March 9, the bank had a negative cash balance of $958 million, according to an order…
Former Shell boss Ben van Beurden received a pay package of £9.7m last year, up more than 50% from 2021. As reported on BBC, his pay was revealed in the oil and gas giant’s annual report and accounts. Shell reported the highest annual profits in its 115-year history last year after a surge in energy…
Adidas has warned that it could suffer its first annual operating loss in more than three decades this year, mostly because it may have to write off the entire range of Yeezy-branded clothing and sneakers. The German sportswear maker said Wednesday that it would face an operating loss of €700 million ($736 million) this year—…
Twitter chief executive Elon Musk has apologised over an exchange he had on the platform with an employee. It came after worker Halli Thorleifsson tweeted to Mr Musk saying: “Your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am employed or not”. Mr Musk responded by asking: “What work have you been doing?”…
US airlines are being called out for their family seating fees as calls grow from the Biden administration to cut back on so-called junk fees. As reported on BBC, the Department of Transportation (DoT) has launched a new dashboard in an attempt to put public pressure on airlines to address customer concerns. It shows American,…
A painting by Russian Modernist Wassily Kandinsky that once belonged to victims of the Nazi Holocaust, has sold for £37.2 million ($44.55 million) at Sotheby’s in London. As reported on CNN, part of the auction house’s Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction on Wednesday, “Murnau mit Kirche II” (“Murnau with Church II”; 1910), was the most…
The boss of one of the UK’s largest business groups has stepped aside while an investigation takes place into complaints about his conduct at work. As reported on BBC, the CBI said it took all matters of workplace conduct “extremely seriously”, but would not comment further until the probe was complete. In a tweet, Tony…
Apple’s biggest supplier Foxconn says its revenue last month fell by 11.65% compared to the same period in 2022 due to weaker demand for electronics. However, February revenue was more than $13bn (£10.8bn), the second highest figure on record for the month. Foxconn added that operations at the world’s biggest iPhone factory in the Chinese…
Toblerone bars, sold in over 100 countries, can no longer be called Swiss chocolate because the brand’s US owner is moving some production out of Switzerland. As reported on CNN, the peak-shaped treat made with honey and almond nougat will also lose the iconic Matterhorn mountain from its packaging after Mondelez (MDLZ), which makes Toblerone,…
Starbucks plans to open 100 new stores across the UK this year, while investing millions of pounds in upgrading existing cafes. As reported on BBC, it comes as the world’s largest coffee chain reported a big jump in sales in the UK for 2022, continuing its recovery from the pandemic. Last year the firm was…
Reports have it that ₦2,949,557,867 has been illegally transferred from the accounts of African fintech unicorn, Flutterwave. As reported on PUNCH, the tech giant’s counsel, Albert Onimole, reported the case to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba, Techcabal reported. According to Onimole’s letter, the hack on Flutterwave’s accounts occurred about…
Rihanna is an uncontested musical talent, her discography known and well-remembered by millions upon millions. And after entertaining much of the world during the Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show, she’s set to reprise yet another past effort: her collaborative FENTY line with PUMA. Alongside producing some of the most iconic songs of all-time, Rihanna has…
Tesla founder Elon Musk regained his title as the world’s richest person on Monday. This was reported by Bloomberg. In December 2022 he was dethroned by Louis Vuitton CEO Bernard Arnault, but the rise in value of Tesla shares brought him back to the top of the rankings. As reported on MARCA, Musk’s net worth…
The foldable smartphone market is expanding. Foldable phone fans have already seen a couple of premium smartphones, from Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 to Xiaomi Mix Fold 2, Honor’s Magic Vs, and Vivo X Fold+. Now, Tecno’s first foldable – the Phantom V Fold – has been unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023…
Starbucks illegally fired six workers in New York state in a pushback against unions, a US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge has ruled. As reported on BBC, the judge says the firm committed “egregious and widespread” violations of federal labour law at its stores in cities of Buffalo and Rochester. The coffee chain has…
Manufacturers in Asia’s two biggest economies are performing very differently after the pandemic. As reported on BBC, factory activity in China expanded last month at the fastest pace in more than a decade, official figures show. However, in Japan manufacturing activity shrank in February at the fastest pace in over two years.Firms around the world…
TikTok announced Wednesday that every user under 18 will soon have their accounts default to a one-hour daily screen time limit, in one of the most aggressive moves yet by a social media company to prevent teens from endlessly scrolling. As reported by CNN, teenage TikTok users will be able to turn off this new…
Nokia redesigned its logo for the first time in decades to distance itself from its public image as a phone company. As reported on CNN, the new logo, announced on Sunday, features five different shapes coming together to spell NOKIA. The font is sleeker and the classic shade of blue associated with the brand is…
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned people to “buckle up” as he signed a bill giving the state control over Disney’s sprawling Orlando theme parks. As reported on BBC, the bill strips power uniquely held by Disney for over 50 years and enables more oversight by Mr DeSantis’ Republican-led legislature. The move is seen as retaliation…
Elon Musk has reclaimed the title of the richest person in the world, per Bloomberg’s tally. As reported on CNN, the Tesla CEO was unseated from the top spot by Bernard Arnault, CEO of French luxury brand LVMH (LVMHF), in December of last year, making Musk No. 2 on the list for more than two…
Shortly after NFL star Michael Vick was indicted in July 2007 for running a dog fighting operation, Nike suspended the release of his signature shoe line. Vick went on to plead guilty and have his contract suspended, but less clear is what exactly happened to all those sneakers. Nike would not say, but industry analyst…
A popular auto dealer and Chairman of Lanre Shittu Group, Alhaji Rasaq Olanrewaju Shittu, is dead. Alhaji Shittu’s death was confirmed by his son, and Executive Director of the Group, Taiwo Shittu. who disclosed that the auto business tycoon died Monday morning. The late started his auto business in the early 1980s at the then…
