Google is on the edge of buying the company behind Tesco's Clubcard | ||
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Google is reportedly mulling over a bid for Dunnhumby, the data arm of supermarket Tesco that runs its loyalty card programme. Sky News reports that Google could team up with private equity group Permira, the former owner of Hugo Boss, to make a joint bid for Dunnhumby. Tesco is selling the unit as part of plans to slim down its business and recover from a disastrous accounting scandal. Dunnhumby runs Tesco's loyalty card programme, which tracks customers shopping habits to build up profiles of consumers and target them with relevant offers. The Clubcard was credited with helping Tesco overtake Sainsbury's in the 1990s to become the UK's biggest supermarket. Given Google's interest in data and data analytics, it's easy to see the appeal of Dunnhumby for the company. It's thought the sale could pull in up to £2 billion ($3.17 billion) for Tesco. Other interested parties include Sir Martin Sorrell's giant advertising group WPP. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's how Cristiano Ronaldo spends his money  | ||
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10 things in tech you need to know today | ||
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Good morning! Here's what you need to know in tech to finish off your week. 1. Twitter has launched "Project Lightning," a big new way to follow live events. Human editors will curate feeds of tweets about major sporting and cultural events, which will be followable even if the user is not logged in. 2. Details about the new Apple Watch 2 have leaked. The first smartwatch from Apple has only been on sale for a month or so, but we now have our first indicator of what its successor will include. There will be a camera and Wi-Fi functionality, among other features. 3. Nokia is going to start making mobile phones again. CEO Rajeev Suri said in an interview it intends to start building smartphones in 2016, once its agreement with Microsoft allows it to. 4. WhatsApp has been slammed by privacy advocates. Pressure group EFF put out its annual "Who Has Your Back?" scorecard grading companies on how they respond to government requests for data, and the Facebook-owned messaging service scored joint-lowest. In contrast, Apple was among the companies lauded. 5. Moments, the hot new app from Facebook, won't be available in Europe because of regulatory concerns. The photo-sharing app is powered by facial recognition, but Facebook has previously stopped using the tech on the continent because regulators said it might be illegal. 6. One of the UK's biggest YouTube stars might be joining Apple's new music streaming platform. Jamal Edwards told us in an interview that he had signed an non-disclosure agreement — indicating he is at least in talks with Apple. It suggests Apple might be exploring the possibility of putting video content on its new platform. 7. Google secretly acquired a company that wants to stop you using apps. Agawi builds technology that lets users stream apps rather than download them. It makes sense: Google makes the majority of its money through search, so it wants to keep you on the mobile web. 8. Twitter wanted to broadcast the first streaming-only NFL game — but lost to Yahoo's $20 million bid. The game will be played in London. This doesn't mean there won't be any partnership between Twitter and the NFL. There is already a content deal to post NFL highlights on Twitter, splitting the ad revenue. 9. FitBit had a very strong market debut, with shares up $48.4% upon closing. Shares opened 52% on the first day of trading, The New York Times reports, ultimately closing just below that. CEO James Park said it proves they are "the clear market leader." 10. There are ongoing layoffs at IBM. Watchdog organisation Alliance@IBM has been tracking the worker cuts. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The 6 best new features coming to Apple computers  | ||
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Google is on the edge of buying the company behind Tesco's Clubcard | ||
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Google is reportedly mulling over a bid for Dunnhumby, the data arm of supermarket Tesco that runs its loyalty card programme. Sky News reports that Google could team up with private equity group Permira, the former owner of Hugo Boss, to make a joint bid for Dunnhumby. Tesco is selling the unit as part of plans to slim down its business and recover from a disastrous accounting scandal. Dunnhumby runs Tesco's loyalty card programme, which tracks customers shopping habits to build up profiles of consumers and target them with relevant offers. The Clubcard was credited with helping Tesco overtake Sainsbury's in the 1990s to become the UK's biggest supermarket. Given Google's interest in data and data analytics, it's easy to see the appeal of Dunnhumby for the company. It's thought the sale could pull in up to £2 billion ($3.17 billion) for Tesco. Other interested parties include Sir Martin Sorrell's giant advertising group WPP. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's how Cristiano Ronaldo spends his money  | ||
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'Capital controls imminent' as money floods out of Greece's banks and default looms | ||
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After yet another failed summit, the blame and recriminations started as soon as Thursday's Eurogroup meeting broke up. Greece is now just 11 days away from its next major debt repayment, which it almost certainly can't make without a bailout deal. "Capital controls imminent without breakthrough," is how Barclays analysts headlined their morning email on the subject. On June 30 Greece owes €1.5 billion ($1.70 billion, £1.08 billion) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the government almost certainly doesn't have. It then owes another €3.5 billion (£2.51 billion, $3.97 billion) to the European Central Bank (ECB) on July 20. Without the cash, the country could default on its debts and tumble into a painful process which led to it leaving the eurozone. That's not something that the Greek people want, but they're also firmly against the There were two major, emergency developments from the Eurogroup meeting. Firstly, an internal leak told Reuters that ECB executive board member Benoit Coeure said "tomorrow, yes. Monday, I don't know," when asked if Greek banks would be able to stay open. The ECB denied the report, and is hosting an emergency call today on the provision of Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) to Greece — the last thing that's propping up the banking system. Secondly, with no breakthrough from the bloc's finance ministers, the eurozone's heads of government will meet for an emergency summit on Monday. The timeline for a potential deal (even if both sides were able to reach one) is now incredibly tight, since an agreement really needs to go through national parliaments before June 30. It's not clear if Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be any more likely to agree to what's on the table than finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. Varoufakis had his own laundry list of suggestions for a deal, which he published straight after the meeting finished. There are now a lot of people saying that the end is nigh (which it may well be), and that a deal must be reached — but they're offering somewhat less detail on who they think should give up on their position. After some progress on elements of the deal, the situation has now been practically static for over a month, with the two sides simply too far apart on issues like reforms to Greece's pension system, whether to cut or hike VAT, and how to change labour market laws. One side will have to fold in some way for a deal to be reached.
Tsipras is in Russia on Friday, and has a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, so for anyone expecting a last minute bailout from Moscow, now is the time. There's a graphic from that Barclays note this morning (right) showing just how dreadful the situation with Greece's banks is, with deposits leaking away at a rapid pace. The amount of money in Greek banks has been practically cut in half over the last six years, and after a halt in the collapse from mid-2012 to mid-late-2014, the plunge has begun again, at an even faster pace. According to Reuters a further €2 billion (£1.43 billion, $2.26 billion) was withdrawn from Greek banks on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday alone. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 6 scientifically proven features men find attractive in women  | ||
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10 things in tech you need to know today | ||
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Good morning! Here's what you need to know in tech to finish off your week. 1. Twitter has launched "Project Lightning," a big new way to follow live events. Human editors will curate feeds of tweets about major sporting and cultural events, which will be followable even if the user is not logged in. 2. Details about the new Apple Watch 2 have leaked. The first smartwatch from Apple has only been on sale for a month or so, but we now have our first indicator of what its successor will include. There will be a camera and Wi-Fi functionality, among other features. 3. Nokia is going to start making mobile phones again. CEO Rajeev Suri said in an interview it intends to start building smartphones in 2016, once its agreement with Microsoft allows it to. 4. WhatsApp has been slammed by privacy advocates. Pressure group EFF put out its annual "Who Has Your Back?" scorecard grading companies on how they respond to government requests for data, and the Facebook-owned messaging service scored joint-lowest. In contrast, Apple was among the companies lauded. 5. Moments, the hot new app from Facebook, won't be available in Europe because of regulatory concerns. The photo-sharing app is powered by facial recognition, but Facebook has previously stopped using the tech on the continent because regulators said it might be illegal. 6. One of the UK's biggest YouTube stars might be joining Apple's new music streaming platform. Jamal Edwards told us in an interview that he had signed an non-disclosure agreement — indicating he is at least in talks with Apple. It suggests Apple might be exploring the possibility of putting video content on its new platform. 7. Google secretly acquired a company that wants to stop you using apps. Agawi builds technology that lets users stream apps rather than download them. It makes sense: Google makes the majority of its money through search, so it wants to keep you on the mobile web. 8. Twitter wanted to broadcast the first streaming-only NFL game — but lost to Yahoo's $20 million bid. The game will be played in London. This doesn't mean there won't be any partnership between Twitter and the NFL. There is already a content deal to post NFL highlights on Twitter, splitting the ad revenue. 9. FitBit had a very strong market debut, with shares up $48.4% upon closing. Shares opened 52% on the first day of trading, The New York Times reports, ultimately closing just below that. CEO James Park said it proves they are "the clear market leader." 10. There are ongoing layoffs at IBM. Watchdog organisation Alliance@IBM has been tracking the worker cuts. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The 6 best new features coming to Apple computers  | ||
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RBS 'resolves' 600,000 missing customer payments and promises no one will be 'out of pocket' | ||
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The Royal Bank of Scotland and its subsidiary Natwest just confirmed that it has returned around 600,000 payments that failed to enter the accounts of RBS customers earlier this week. In a statement sent to Business Insider, an RBS spokesperson also confirmed that people will not be financially penalised for the bank's errors: We can confirm that the issues customers were experiencing in relation to delayed credits and debits have now been resolved and accounts have been updated. We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience and distress that this has caused our customers. If any customers are still experiencing issues please contact our call centres or come into a branch where are our staff are ready to help. We will continue our work to make sure that no customer will be left out of pocket as a result of this issue. This missing payments was a huge deal for customers because the payments ranged from people's monthly salaries, which obviously pays for housing and bills, as well as welfare payments for the more financial vulnerable in society. Also, let's say, if your salary comes in on the 1st of the month, and your bills come out the same day, then if your salary payment is missing - that means you'll have a vast amount of money coming out of your account and nothing going in. This could take you over your overdraft and you could be charged fees - even if it's not your fault. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This 1998 supercar could auction for $15 million  | ||
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