Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. When Barack Obama was vacationing recently with Bruce Springsteen, Tom Hanks and Oprah Winfrey aboard a $300 million yacht in Tahiti, one wonders if he ever hummed Springsteen’s “All Or Nothin’ At All.” At the moment, it seems like he […]
Deutsche Bank said on Friday that it had appointed Citigroup treasurer James von Moltke as its new chief financial officer. Germany’s biggest lender has been looking for a new finance director since it announced last month that Marcus Schenck would take on a new dual role as co-head of the investment bank and joint deputy chief executive. Citi declined to comment on the news, which was first […]
On the last day of the busiest earnings week in a decade, here is a striking statistic from Goldman Sachs, showing just how dominant a handful of large cap companies have become in terms of both overall profitability and market impact: Year to date the top 10 contributors have combined to account for 37% of the S&P 500 index return (more than double their market cap representation […]
Emerging market equities have been the darling asset class de jour in 2017, mainly in Asia and Latin America, despite the March FOMC rate hike, a US Dollar Index at or above 100 and a mini-swoon in crude oil after a Saudi-Russian output cut spat. Earnings growth (India/Thailand) a stabilized currency (China), policy reforms (India, Brazil, Indonesia) local interest rate cuts (Brazil) and lower US protectionist policies […]
Luxembourg has shared information with other countries on cases of possible tax evasion in relation to the ‘Panama Papers’, according to Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna. Gramegna, responding to a request from the EU Investigation Committee on Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion (PANA), said the exchanges took place partly spontaneously and partly at the request of other countries. The European Parliament’s so-called Panama Committee, the official […]
Distribution agreement boosts Eikon’s robust research offering with economic sovereign reports London, 28 April 2017 – Users of Thomson Reuters flagship financial platform Eikon can now access Oxford Business Group’s full range of research on emerging economies, following a distribution agreement between the two firms, giving financial professionals instant access to OBG’s extensive range of reports and economic updates. OBG content is available through Eikon’s real-time and […]
File Photo The head of Uber’s self-driving car project is stepping away from the leadership role as a lawsuit embroiling Uber and his former employer Waymo relating to the theft of trade secrets continues. Anthony Levandowski is a talented engineer who is believed to have been a key player in former Google unit Waymo’s success in developing the technology. While working in Google’s Street View maps unit […]
A prominent Bahraini activist jailed for life for his role in anti-regime protests has been on hunger strike for two weeks to protest the treatment of prisoners, campaigners said Thursday. Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who also holds Danish citizenship, is an outspoken critic of Bahrain’s Al-Khalifa monarchy, which has ruled the tiny Gulf archipelago for more than two centuries. Khawaja began the hunger strike on April 12 in a […]
FRANKFURT Deutsche Bank is expected to name James von Moltke as new finance chief, replacing Marcus Schenck who is taking on a role as co-head of the investment bank, a source close to the matter said on Friday. Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Von Moltke will join Germany’s flagship lender from Citi, where he worked as treasurer from 2015 after earlier looking after the bank’s financial planning […]
Barclays has reported a doubling of underlying quarterly profits, excluding a big hit for selling its African unit, as its chief executive sought to shift attention away from a row over his treatment of a whistleblower. Jes Staley, who is being investigated by British and American regulators for trying to discover the identity of a whistleblower, said: “We are now just two months away from completing the […]
An early player in drone-tech, 3D Robotics Inc., announced that it has raised $53 million in a Series D round of funding on Thursday, including new equity funding and conversion of debt equity. Atlantic Bridge led the round joined by Autodesk Forge Fund, True Ventures, Foundry Group, Mayfield and other undisclosed investors, according to the company statement. The company didn’t break out how much new capital it saw […]
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is in talks with investors about introducing its US-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants brand to the UAE. Pascal Gauvin, IHG’s India, Middle East and Africa COO, told Arabian Business that Nasdaq-listed IHG began discussions with investors in January and hopes to sign a deal this year. After that, it intends to launch boutique hotel brand Kimpton in Dubai, first, within the next 3-5 […]
. 240 modern gas stations across the country set for completion by 2020 · Strong support is required to encourage organized companies to step in to the service field. 26 April 2017 Riyadh – Petromin, the leading lubricants and automotive services company in Saudi Arabia, outlined plans to build 240 gas stations across the Kingdom at the 10th edition of the Saudi Travel and Tourism Investment […]
The National Broadband Network (NBN) company should increase the extent of its fibre network, providing as many customers as possible with fibre to the premises (FttP) and fibre to the distribution point/curb (FttDP/C), the South Australian government has said, adding that the satellite service should be a “last resort”. Speaking in a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network, the South Australian government […]
By Jennifer Ablan and Stephen Nellis | NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO Growing tensions with North Korea should worry global electronics firms such as Apple Inc as they source key parts from South Korea, but investors are brushing off such concerns and snapping up shares in key exporters, heartened by robust earnings and big investment plans. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday in an interview […]
Global energy markets are heading to a rebalancing in the next years after oil prices fell to historic lows due to oversupply, Qatar’s energy minister said Thursday, praising OPEC members for their adherence to a “successful” November deal to cut production. Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry Mohammed Saleh Abdullah Al-Sada told the Atlantic Council summit in Istanbul that a decade of high oil prices had led […]
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a concept that has a long standing tradition in the realm of science-fiction, popularized by Hollywood movies and iconic writers such as Isaac Asimov. However, AI has also received increased attention in recent years following news of progress in the field and the prospect of new, tangible, innovation such as self-driving cars. The Internet has played an important role in these developments, particularly […]
Kickass Torrents and its related proxy websites will be blocked under Australian law thanks to a judgment in the Australian Federal Court case between several music studios and internet service providers (ISPs). Within 15 days, each ISP must take “reasonable steps” to block Kickass Torrents, Justice Burley said on Friday, via DNS blocking or any alternative means for disabling access to the online location. Burley J added […]
Barcelona said on Thursday they will make a complaint to Spanish sporting authorities over comments by Malaga’s Qatari owner Abdullah Al-Thani on Twitter describing the Catalans as “scum”. “FC Barcelona expresses its rejection and indignation at the content of the tweet published by the president of Malaga, Abdullah Al-Thani, which is counter to the principles of fair-play, ethics and legality,” said the Spanish champions in a statement. […]
By Julia Love and Rishika Sadam Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) posted a surge in profit and revenue on Thursday as its core advertising business continued to grow at an extraordinary rate and problems such as an advertiser boycott of YouTube had little impact. Alphabet’s profit beat Wall Street estimates and rose 29 percent to $5.43 billion, a performance that analysts called exceptional for a company so […]
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported a 22 per cent surge in sales, despite fears that marketers were withdrawing advertising dollars from its YouTube video site because of worries about ads appearing next to extremist content. The Silicon Valley company’s shares, up 21 per cent in the past year, rose 4 per cent to $928.30 in after-hours trading in New York. Sundar Pichai, Google chief executive, said the […]
The Israeli agency that liaises with the Palestinians on civilian affairs, known as Cogat (an acronym for Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), said Israel supplies Gaza with 30 percent of its total electricity needs at a monthly cost of about $11 million. Continue reading the main story Israel did not immediately cut off the supply, apparently hoping that international donors would step in and pay. […]
Google parent company Alphabet reported first quarter financial results Thursday that came in above estimates. The tech giant reported non-GAAP earnings were $7.73 per share on a revenue of $24.8 billion, up 22 percent year-over-year, when including traffic acquisition costs (TAC). Wall Street was looking for earnings of $7.40 per share with $24.2 billion in revenue. Net revenue excluding TAC was expected to be $19.81 billion. Alphabet […]
Sometimes those of us in the news media bust our own balloons, leaving us with lots of clown makeup and nothing to hand out to the kids. And that’s how ESPN, the company that changed the world of sports, looks this week. Journey back in time to 1979 when ESPN was created. The question almost asked was simple: How will you be able to put on 24 […]
