IBM is suing Airbnb over what it claims it the illegal use of four patents in a move that casts doubt over the short-term rental company’s attempts to a proposed listing. IBM patents are homegrown and resulting from our more than $5bn investment a year in R&D. After six years of unsuccessful discussions with Airbnb,…
Flights from 26 countries, not including the UK to be suspended amid the coronavirus outbreak for 30 days starting from Friday midnight. The travel order does not apply to US citizens. There are 1,1 35 confirmed cases of the virus across the US with 38 deaths so far. Mr. Trump said the European…
Chancellor Rishi Sunak in his bold budget speech suspended business rates for shops and cafes, Beer, wine and cider duties were frozen as pubs get help, UK interest rates cut in an emergency move, and promises his measures to help the economy tackle the coronavirus outbreak which is expected to bring a “significant” short-term…
Tesco agrees to sell its south-east Asian operations for $10.6bn Tesco has agreed to sell its south-east Asian operations for $10.6bn in cash to Charoen Pokphand, making it Asia’s largest corporate acquisition in the year to date and the biggest in Thailand’s history. Tesco said the sale would return about £5bn to shareholders via a…
Aon buys Willis Tower Watson for £30bn in an all share-deal that will combine world’s second and third largest insurance brokers into a new industry leader and throws up challenge to Marsh & McLennan, which until now has been the world’s number one in the sector by revenue, one year after they completed acquisition of…
The entire population of Italy are told to stay at home to curb the coronavirus outbreak and seek permission for essential travel. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the measures were designed to protect the most vulnerable “There is no more time”. Italy’s coronavirus death toll lappet from 366 to 463 on Monday as cases of…
Saudi Arabia has launched an oil price war targeting its biggest rivals to swamp the crude market with supplies at deep discounts to win new customers next month, a move that would send crude prices tumbling and expected to ripple through the US Junk bond market, where shale producers have borrowed billions of dollars recently.…
America’s opioid epidemic has hit the society’s elite, previously associated with the lower class living in trailer parks and other centres of deprivation. Ellene Zimmerman’s husband Peter was a lawyer who, as a partner at a top San Diego intellectual property firm, earned well in excess of $1m a year. He was also a drug…
Capital and Ideology by Thomas Piketty contains fascinating descriptions of unknown historical uprisings against inequality such as Haitian revolution and describes societal system through the ages – slavery, serfdom, feudalism, communism, hypercapitalism, colonialism and caste, class collectively as “Inequality regimes” shaping the lives of billions and uses historical sources to chart the distribution of incomes…
Nissan is investing £400m in its Sunderland plant, despite warnings from the Japanese carmaker that tariffs after Brexit might endanger the facility’s exports. The company said a new £52m press line, has been installed ahead of building a revised version of the Qashqai, the family sport-utility vehicle that accounts for two-thirds of the site’s…