Pearson sells US school textbook arm for $250m February 18, 2019 Pearson announced the $250m (£194m) sale of its US school textbook division today as it pursues a simplification strategy as it doubles down on digital. Read more: Pearson's shares fall amid declining US revenues The education publisher expects to net $25m today and the full sum over the next three to seven years from the [...]
Scout24 board approves Blackstone consortium’s €5.7bn takeover February 15, 2019 Blackstone has won the support of Scout24's board with its latest offer of €5.7bn (£5.01bn) for the German online classifieds company. The bid sent Scout24's share price up more than 24 per cent during early morning trading to €46.60, more than the current offer is worth. Read more: Blackstone takes on Bloomberg, paying $20bn for Thomson Reuters [...]
Data regulator pushes for a wider remit in tech giant audits February 14, 2019 Future regulation on the world’s biggest tech companies must include the UK’s data watchdog, information commissioner Elizabeth Denham said today. Speaking at the Institute for Government, Denham described MPs’ calls for regulation of tech giants as a “knee-jerk reaction” that, if excessive, could impinge on freedom of expression. Her comments came as platforms such as [...]
EU agrees draft copyright reform amid clash between publishers and tech giants February 14, 2019 EU negotiators have reached a deal to reform copyright rules in a move that could overhaul intellectual property rights in the digital age and strike a blow against tech giants. The EU Commission late last night secured a draft agreement to force online platforms to take down user-generated content that breaches intellectual property rights. Read [...]
Twitter boss Jack Dorsey admits ‘huge fail’ in not preventing online abuse February 13, 2019 Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey has said that tech firms such as his own have not done enough to protect victims of online abuse. In a conversation with Recode, Dorsey awarded Twitter a 'C' grade for its past efforts, and labelled the current climate a "huge fail" on the part of Silicon Valley. Myself? C. We’ve made [...]
CMA must investigate the online advertising market, government report states February 11, 2019 The online advertising market must face a probe by the competition watchdog amid concerns tech giants are putting the future of quality journalism at risk, a major government report has found. In its findings published today, the Cairncross Review called on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate the online advertising market to ensure [...]
Reddit users launch Winnie the Pooh protest against Tencent amid censorship fears February 11, 2019 Defiant images of Winnie the Pooh have sprung up across community news site Reddit as users hit back at a major investment by Chinese tech giant Tencent. Reddit confirmed today that the Chinese conglomerate has contributed a $150m (£116m) investment in the website, which describes itself as the ‘front page of the internet’, as part of a wider [...]
Premier League plots streaming service for live football matches February 10, 2019 The Premier League is planning to launch its own streaming service for live football matches in a bid to bypass broadcasters and boost revenues. The Netflix-style streaming service was due to be tested in Singapore, but the Premier League backed out of the project. Instead, the league sold rights to the next three seasons to Singapore [...]
Satirical website the Daily Mash sold in £1.2m deal February 8, 2019 Satirical news website the Daily Mash has been sold in a £1.2m deal. The website, which also has a TV offshoot the Mash Report on BBC2, is being taken over by Digitalbox. Digitalbox is a media business that is scheduled to flotation Aim on 28 February through the reverse takeover of an Aim shell called [...]
UKTV boss Darren Childs to step down ahead of £1bn BBC breakup February 7, 2019 UKTV chief executive Darren Childs is stepping down after eight years in the role ahead of a proposed £1bn breakup of the broadcaster. Childs, who has overseen a 66 per cent increase in revenues and nearly tripled profits during his time at the firm, will step down on 1 July. He has been tipped as [...]
