Financial news

• The $16m New York penthouse fit for a UK civil servant

  26-03-2019 21:20 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Luxury apartment next to UN headquarters to be used by senior diplomat charged with seeking post-Brexit trade deals The government has bought a $15.9m (£12m) seven bedroom luxury New York apartment for a senior British civil servant charged with signing fresh trade deals in a post-Brexit world, the Guardian can reveal.The foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt oversaw the purchase of a 5,893 sq ft (574 sq metre) apartment as the official residence for Antony Phillipson, the UK trade comm
  
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• Debenhams' debts suggest Mike Ashley's takeover bid won't happen | Nils Pratley

  26-03-2019 20:55 via theguardian.com
  Sports Direct chief’s strategy for Debenhams would be self-defeating but offer is an exercise in distractionMike Ashley moves in mysterious ways but one can surely say this about his “possible” takeover bid for Debenhams: it’s probably not going to happen if it would involve Sports Direct becoming fully liable for Debenhams’ debts, portions of which are trading at 50p in the pound. Ashley is not running a charity for impoverished banks and bondholders.Unfortunately
  
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• Millions of Venezuelans endure second power blackout – video

  26-03-2019 20:49 via theguardian.com
  Officials blamed an attack on a hydroelectric plant for an outage that resulted in businesses having to close, plunged Venezuela's main airport into darkness and left commuters stranded in Caracas. Power went out in much of the capital and nearly a dozen states in the early afternoon. It came after a week-long blackout earlier in March that was the most severe in the country's historyVenezuela: call for calm amid blackouts and anti-Maduro protests Continue reading...
  
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• Autonomy executives fudged revenues from clients, court told

  26-03-2019 20:27 via theguardian.com
  Deal with Tottenham Hotspur and others used to inflate software firm’s sales, claimants allegeExecutives at the British software company Autonomy mischaracterised revenues from clients including Tottenham Hotspur, the Serious Fraud Office and the BBC to inflate software sales figures before a disastrous £8bn acquisition by the US firm Hewlett-Packard, London’s high court has heard.HP is suing the former Autonomy founder Mike Lynch and former chief financial officer Sushovan Hus
  
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• 'Why can't they come and play?': housing segregation in London

  26-03-2019 20:14 via theguardian.com
  Families in social housing explain impact of being blocked from shared areas by developerSegregated playground sparks fury On a hot day in the summer of 2017, a dozen kids at a housing estate in south London went out to their nearby playground. Sprinklers were turned on as the kids played on the swinging tyre, their shouts and laughter echoing across the estate. Soon after, complaints were sent to residents – one about the noise, the other reminding parents that not all kids have a right t
  
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• Purdue Pharma agrees to settle OxyContin opioid case with Oklahoma

  26-03-2019 19:52 via theguardian.com
  Purdue and Sackler family members to pay Oklahoma $270m in settlement over illegal marketing of painkillerMembers of the Sackler family, who own Purdue Pharma, the company that drove America’s opioid epidemic, appear for the first time to have acknowledged a role in the crisis by agreeing to pay tens of millions of dollars as part of a landmark legal settlement.Purdue and some Sackler family members are to pay a total of $270m as part of an agreement to settle a lawsuit by the state of Okl
  
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• Pret a Manger and Krispy Kreme owners discover disturbing Nazi past

  26-03-2019 19:36 via theguardian.com
  Owners to donate $11.3m to charity after learning family members were keen supporters of Hitler and used forced labor
  A German newspaper report has revealed major historical ties between the Reimann family, owners of Krispy Kreme and Pret a Manger, and the Nazi party.The report in Bild, since confirmed by the family’s spokesman, shows that ancestors of Reimann family were enthusiastic antisemites and keen supporters of Adolf Hitler. They used Russian civilians and French prisoners of war a
  
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• The Guardian view on segregated playgrounds: sand and fury | Editorial

  26-03-2019 19:30 via theguardian.com
  New flats where the children of social tenants have separate swings is a reminder of everything that is wrong with housing policyOur report about a housing development in south London with separate play areas for richer and poorer children has, rightly, provoked fury. What was presented as a family-friendly place to live with communal play areas morphed, after planning permission had been granted, into something else: an estate on which social housing tenants are blocked by a hedge from accessin
  
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• Going the extra mile at Gloucester services | Letters

  26-03-2019 19:25 via theguardian.com
  Gillian Browne, Bob Allen and Bill White on a popular motorway pit stop. And Ian West on one that wasn’t so lovedI enjoyed Sam Wollaston’s piece (What a journey!, G2, 25 March) and agreed with every good word he said about Gloucester services on the M5. But I wonder if it is possible to blend too thoroughly into the landscape. My cousin and her friend, travelling north on the motorway, fancied a little something and pulled in to Gloucester services. But they ended up driving straight
  
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• UK economy defies Brexit gloom even as crisis deepens

  26-03-2019 19:24 via theguardian.com
  Latest Guardian analysis finds economic indicators positive but weaker growth is forecastHow has Brexit vote affected the UK economy? March verdictUK economy remains afloat despite Brexit shenanigansMPs are entering the crunch phase of the Brexit process against a backdrop of better news from the British economy, despite growing alarm over the political deadlock and the lingering risk of a no-deal departure from the European Union, according to the latest Guardian analysis.The Guardian’s m
  
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• Debenhams presses ahead with £200m lenders' rescue plan

  26-03-2019 19:17 via theguardian.com
  Department store says it will still consider a firm offer from Mike Ashley’s Sports DirectDebenhams is forging ahead with plans for a £200m rescue deal with its lenders as it said a potential bid from Sports Direct would come too late to provide the funds needed to keep the department store chain afloat. Related: Sports Direct considering cash bid for DebenhamsContinue reading...
  
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• Macron's mini-summit in Paris is a snub to Trump's trade policy | Larry Elliott

  26-03-2019 18:25 via theguardian.com
  European leaders and China’s Xi Jinping put on a show of unity in the face of US tariffsDonald Trump was not on the guest list for Emmanuel Macron’s mini-summit in Paris, but the presence of the US president was still very much felt as Europe’s leaders sat down to talk trade, business deals and geopolitics with China’s Xi Jinping.At one level, the message from the meeting of China’s leader with Macron, the German chancellor Angela Merkel and the European commission
  
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• Sadiq Khan pushes for tube-style services on London's railways

  26-03-2019 16:55 via theguardian.com
  Mayor wants TfL to take over suburban tracks and stations to deliver more trains per hourSadiq Khan has asked to take control of railway tracks and stations in London to pave the way for high-frequency services.Transferring responsibility for the infrastructure on suburban rail lines from Network Rail to Transport for London (TfL) would be the first step towards creating a “turn-up-and-go” service at comparatively underused stations. Continue reading...
  
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• Michelle Obama's memoir sells more than 10m copies

  26-03-2019 16:40 via theguardian.com
  Former first lady’s Becoming is a global hit in 31 languages and has sold 600,000 copies in UKMichelle Obama’s autobiography, Becoming, is on track to become the most successful memoir in modern publishing history, selling more than 10m copies to date, as life after the White House continues to prove commercial gold for brand Obama.Thomas Rabe, chief executive of the German media group Bertelsmann, parent company of Becoming’s publisher, Penguin Random House, said the title was
  
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• Fever-Tree profits fizz as Britain's thirst for gin continues

  26-03-2019 16:27 via theguardian.com
  World Cup and royal wedding credited for sales boom at premium tonic water firmFever-Tree Drinks has reported a 34% jump in pre-tax profits for 2018, bolstered by the World Cup, royal wedding and long, hot summer.The premium tonic water maker has notched up double-digit growth in recent years as high-end gin increasingly continued to be coupled with premium tonic water. Continue reading...
  
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• Waterstones says it can't pay living wage, as 1,300 authors support staff appeal

  26-03-2019 13:28 via theguardian.com
  Managing director says book chain ‘simply not profitable enough’, as Sally Rooney, Val McDermid and other authors write to protestMore than 1,300 writers including Kerry Hudson, David Nicholls, Sally Rooney, Michael Rosen and Val McDermid have backed a campaign for Waterstones booksellers to be paid the living wage.The support follows a petition from staff at Waterstones, signed by more than 6,000 people, which calls on the book chain’s managing director, James Daunt, to pay bo
  
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• Samsung surprises market with first-quarter profit warning

  26-03-2019 12:44 via theguardian.com
  Tech giant blames slowing demand for its memory chips and smartphonesSamsung has issued a surprise profit warning, blaming a slump in memory chip prices and slowing demand for display panels. It is the latest sign that technology firms are facing tougher times amid a global economic slowdown.The warning from the South Korean technology company comes two months after Apple shocked investors with its first profit warning since 2002, citing the “magnitude” of the economic slowdown in Ch
  
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• IPO mania: San Francisco braces for 'earthquake' of new tech millionaires

  26-03-2019 11:00 via theguardian.com
  A flurry of stock market debuts, from Uber to Airbnb, has many speculating how more wealth will affect the city
  Several big-name tech companies are set to enter the public market, and the speculation over the effects of a crush of overnight millionaires overwhelming the region has reached fever pitch. Related: ‘I made $3.75 an hour’: Lyft and Uber drivers push to unionize for better payContinue reading...
  
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• Why won’t my £100 Ticketmaster gift card work?

  26-03-2019 08:00 via theguardian.com
  I wanted to book a trip to the theatre but the card hadn’t been validated so I couldn’t use itFor my 70th birthday last year, three friends clubbed together to give me a £100 Ticketmaster prepaid card so I could book some theatre tickets and, at the time, I was delighted. Ever since, we have been trying to use this card but to no avail. My more technically literate husband tried to validate it according to the instructions. When that failed, my daughter-in-law had a go. Ticketm
  
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• 'Horror, fear, despair': Venezuela's oil capital shattered by 'tsunami' of violent looting

  26-03-2019 08:00 via theguardian.com
  In the second city of Maracaibo, the crippling blackout sparked a terrifying rampage that police seemed unable to controlSome liken the damage wrought on Venezuela’s second city to a natural disaster. Others suspect satanic intervention.“El demonio,” says Betty Méndez, a local shopkeeper, by way of explanation for the wave of looting and unrest that convulsed Maracaibo earlier this month. Continue reading...
  
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• Let the workers have a say on company pay committees

  26-03-2019 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Big business may not buy it but frank views on remuneration might breathe fresh air into boardroomsIt’s not hard to predict how big business will react to the proposal that a representative of the workers be appointed to remuneration committees. Corporate titans will declare the business select committee’s idea to be unworkable. They will seek to kick the recommendation into the long grass, a tactic that worked when Theresa May, in those half-forgotten days when she possessed some po
  
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• Curb bosses’ pay or risk breakdown of trust in capitalism, MPs warn

  26-03-2019 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Big companies urged to split profits with staff and give workers a say in executive pay
  Big companies should split their profits with staff and give employees a say in how chief executives are paid, or risk a complete breakdown of trust in the capitalist system, MPs have said.A report by the business select committee said a series of “shaming” decisions – including a £75m bonus handed to the boss of housebuilder Persimmon – showed a need for fresh curbs on “ex
  
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