Reuters reported that Britain placed another hurdle in the way of Microsoft’s $69-billion mega purchase of “Call of Duty” maker, Activision Blizzard, saying it could harm gamers by weakening the rivalry between Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation. |
Business
Britain takes aim at Microsoft’s $69 billion ‘Call of Duty’ deal
Deals
08 February 2023, 7:21 pm 1 minute
Market Impact
The biggest-ever deal in gaming could result in higher prices, fewer choices, and less innovation for millions of players, as well as stifling competition in cloud gaming. Shares in Activision were down 3% in early trading in New York. Microsoft, which announced an AI-driven revamp of its search capabilities on Tuesday, was up 2.4%.
Article Tags
Topics of Interest: Deals
Type: Reuters Best
Sectors: Business & FinanceTechnology
Regions: EuropeNorth America
Countries: EnglandUnited States
Win Types: Overall Coverage
Story Types: Spot News
Media Types: Text
Customer Impact: Major Global Story
Business
Uniper’s dormant Russian gas contracts may pose hurdle to listing
Energy
03 May 2024, 3:26 am 1 minute
Reuters exclusively reported that legacy gas contracts with former main supplier Gazprom could become a key hurdle for utility Uniper in its attempts to return to the stock exchange following its 13.5 billion euro bail-out by the German government during the height of Europe’s energy crisis.
Market Impact
The expected re-IPO of Uniper could become one of Germany’s biggest listings in 2025 and would mark a major milestone for Berlin following Uniper’s nationalization in 2022, making it a key strategic issue for utility investors.
Article Tags
Topics of Interest: Energy
Type: Reuters Best
Sectors: Commodities & Energy
Regions: Europe
Countries: Germany
Win Types: Exclusivity
Story Types: Exclusive / Scoop
Media Types: Text
Customer Impact: Significant National Story
Business
Boeing union hits out over ‘final’ 30% pay rise offer
The union representing thousands of striking Boeing workers has hit out at what the aircraft manufacturing giant called its “best and final” pay offer, which proposed a 30% rise over four years.
The new offer also included the reinstatement of a performance bonus and improved retirement benefits.
However, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said the offer was not negotiated with the union and that “it was thrown at us without any discussion.”
More than 30,000 Boeing workers went on strike earlier this month after rejecting a 25% pay rise offer.
“After listening to our employees and their concerns, Boeing today presented our best and final offer,” the aircraft manufacturing giant said in a letter sent to union officials.
The proposal doubles the value of a one-off bonus for signing a new pay deal to $6,000 (£4,497).
Boeing said the offer is dependent on it being ratified by union members by midnight pacific time on Friday 27 September (7am GMT on Saturday 28 September).
But IAM said Boeing sent the new offer directly to union members and the media without telling the union’s representatives.
“This tactic is a blatant show of disrespect to you – our members – and the bargaining process,” IAM said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The union also said it would not hold a vote of its membership ahead of Boeing’s deadline.
BBC News has asked Boeing for a statement on IAM’s response to its new pay offer.
Boeing workers voted to strike on September 13 after rejecting a new contract deal, which included a 25% pay rise over four years.
The union had initially aimed for a number of improvements to workers’ packages, including a 40% pay rise.
Almost 95% of the union members – who produce planes including the 737 Max and 777 – voted to reject Boeing’s initial offer.
Of those who voted, 96% backed strike action until a new agreement could be reached.
The strike threatens to cost Boeing billions of dollars, deepening the crisis at a company already facing significant challenges.
Its impacts are already being felt across the industry and wider US economy too, as Boeing has halted shipments of most parts and taken other steps to save money.
The company has already suspended the jobs of tens of thousands of staff.
It has also said that US-based executives, managers and staff would be asked to take one week of furlough every four weeks for as long as the walkout lasts.
Government officials are now helping to mediate talks between the two sides.
Business
US prepares to sue Visa for alleged anti-competitive behaviour
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The US Department of Justice is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Visa, accusing the payments company of anti-competitive behaviour.
Federal prosecutors are set to file a lawsuit as early as Tuesday, said a person familiar with the matter. The move would come after a years-long review by the DoJ into Visa’s business practices.
The company in 2021 disclosed in a regulatory filing that the DoJ’s antitrust unit had requested information on potential violations of antitrust law provisions that outlaw anti-competitive agreements and monopolistic conduct. The civil probe focused on Visa’s debit card business in the US as well as competition in other networks and payment methods.
The company last year said federal prosecutors had sought additional documents as part of this investigation. Visa said it was co-operating with the DoJ and in 2021 said its “US debit practices are in compliance with applicable laws”.
The DoJ declined to comment. Visa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The prospective lawsuit was first reported by Bloomberg.
Visa shares fell almost 2 per cent in after-hours trading.
It was not immediately clear whether the areas of interest Visa previously disclosed would be the focus of the DoJ’s upcoming enforcement action.
Antitrust agencies have also scrutinised Visa’s competitors. Mastercard last year reached an agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission to settle charges that the company illegally forced merchants to direct debit card payments via its payment network.
Visa and Mastercard earlier this year agreed to cut the so-called swipe fees they charge retailers in a legal settlement that merchants said would save them $30bn over five years, but the deal was later rejected by a federal judge.
Progressive antitrust officials in the Joe Biden administration have adopted tougher antitrust policy in an attempt to course correct what they have described as decades of lax enforcement.
Under the leadership of Jonathan Kanter, the DoJ’s antitrust division has pursued big cases attempting to curb powerful businesses including in Big Tech. The justice department is facing off against Google in a trial that accuses the company of monopolising the digital advertising space. It won a separate case against Google in which the company was branded a monopolist in online search.
Business
Reuters reveals Chesapeake Energy to offload part of south Texas operations for $1.4 bln
Business & FinanceEnergy
18 January 2023, 9:21 pm 1 minute
Reuters was first to report that oil and gas exploration and production company Chesapeake Energy Corp agreed to sell part of its operations in south Texas to private equity-owned WildFire Energy for $1.4 billion in cash. After Reuters revealed the news, Chesapeake formally announced the sale of the operations to WildFire. Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake has been trying to divest its entire South Texas operations to focus on natural gas-producing acreage in other parts of the United States. The deal it has clinched falls short of meeting the demands of activist investor Kimmeridge Energy Management, which is among the 15 largest Chesapeake shareholders, to exit South Texas entirely.
Article Tags
Topics of Interest: Business & FinanceEnergy
Type: Reuters Best
Sectors: Business & Finance
Regions: North America
Countries: US
Win Types: Exclusivity
Story Types: Exclusive / Scoop
Media Types: Text
Customer Impact: Significant National Story
Business
US warned Raiffeisen access to dollar system could be curbed over Russia
Business & Finance
15 May 2024, 3:22 am 1 minute
Reuters exclusively reported that Raiffeisen Bank International was warned by the U.S. Treasury in writing that its access to the U.S. financial system could be curbed because of its Russia dealings.
Market Impact
The United States is the world’s most powerful regulator chiefly because it can sever a bank’s access to the dollar, a cornerstone of international finance. Losing access to the dollar would be likely to plunge any bank into a crisis.
Article Tags
Topics of Interest: Business & Finance
Type: Reuters Best
Sectors: Business & Finance
Regions: Europe
Countries: Austria
Win Types: Exclusivity
Story Types: Exclusive / Scoop
Media Types: Text
Customer Impact: Significant National Story
Business
‘No money and no answers’ two years after funeral firm’s collapse
Margaret and David Fee spent thousands of pounds on pre-paid funeral plans to lessen the trauma for their loved ones when they died.
But in 2022, they were among 46,000 people who discovered Safe Hands Plans Ltd – the company they trusted to organise their funerals – had collapsed.
Two years on, and while an ongoing fraud investigation is looking into the firm’s dealings, Margaret and David are no closer to getting a penny back, or to finding the answers that they are demanding about what went wrong.
And with a new government in place, a consumer group is calling for ministers to launch a public inquiry into the defunct funeral firm.
Margaret – a former bereavement services officer with the NHS – said the plans were paid for from David’s pension pot.
She said she only worked part-time, so had a “very small” pension pot.
The pair, both 78, are now retired and living in Ratby, Leicestershire.
They invested £2,745 each from David’s pension to pay for their funerals in 2015.
Safe Hands assured them their money was ringfenced and protected, with all aspects of the funerals accounted for.
But seven years later, the company went into administration and with it, went the couple’s money.
Funeral plans are designed to allow people to set money aside during their lives, to help their families pay for a funeral when they die.
Previous unregulated
The plans became particularly popular as funeral prices soared, but there were questions over the lack of protection if a provider went bust.
Since July 2022, providers have required approval to operate from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), giving consumers greater protection.
Safe Hands was one of dozens of companies operating in the previously unregulated pre-paid funeral sector, and collapsed four months before the measures came in.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) opened its investigation, which is ongoing, into Safe Hands in October 2023.
As customers who bought directly through Safe Hands, Margaret and David were offered the chance to pay half the amount again to renew their full plan with either Dignity or Co-op.
Margaret and David – a former electrical maintenance engineer – took up this offer, paying one plan upfront using money from David’s pension fund, and the second on a monthly payment plan, both with Dignity.
They say the firm’s collapse hit their monthly premiums and left them in a vulnerable financial position.
“We never thought we’d be in this position to pay off something monthly again. We thought we were comfortable. Now, we’re not getting into debt but there’s nothing left. There’s no money for treats,” said Margaret.
They believe their health has suffered because of it.
David, speaking tearfully as Margaret comforted him, said: “It gets you inside, stomach ulcers and that through worry, and all these things add up eventually.
“And sometimes you think, is it worth carrying on? But you’ve got to.”
Gill Marshall, a retired grandmother of four, paid £4,000 for a Safe Hands funeral plan.
Her husband, Paul, died suddenly aged 57 while on a trip in France in 2012.
The family did not have a plan, insurance or enough funds to pay for the repatriation.
To bring her husband home and organise his funeral, Gill – from Grantham in Lincolnshire – had to borrow the money, took out a bereavement loan from the government, and came close to losing the family home in the process.
“It was a really difficult time and I just did not want my children to be in that position,” she said.
So, for her funeral, Gill turned took out a Safe Hands plan.
She gave the matter no more thought until a letter arrived on 19 September 2022, informing her the company had gone into administration.
“You’re just lost aren’t you? Because the money’s gone,” she said.
“You thought you were set up, and then not only have you not got a funeral plan, but you haven’t got the money to put it into another one.”
The administrators for Safe Hands, FRP Advisory, declined to comment on the ongoing situation.
But it has issued four publicly-available progress reports since it took over administration of the firm.
In its latest report from May, the administrators stated it had “continued to pursue claims”.
The report states it has made “substantial progress with the process of adjudicating planholders’ submitted claims”.
However, the firm has not yet been able to return any money to Safe Hands customers.
Prior to the collapse of Safe Hands, there was no industry regulation as long as the money was kept in a trust, meaning it would be carefully handled by account trustees.
But by July 2022, all pre-paid funeral firms had to get approval to operate from the FCA.
Safe Hands applied, but the company then withdrew its application. Unable to trade without regulation, the company went into administration in March 2022.
FRP Advisory told the BBC planholders are owed an estimated £70.6m – and the expected returns are between £8m and £10.9m.
No repayment terms
The administrators’ progress documents show a series of financial transactions made prior to the collapse of Safe Hands.
Of the tens of millions owed to planholders, the documents show £45.1m of investments were made in the Cayman Islands – where there is no UK jurisdiction.
In addition, in 2018, a loan of about £3.5m was received by the company’s previous owner, Malcolm David Milson. According to documents filed by Safe Hands on Companies House, it was issued without any repayment terms.
The BBC has invited Mr Milson to comment on the payment, but he did not respond.
Lara Gee – financial expert and associate professor in accounting at the University of Nottingham – says the company had plenty of time to get its finances in order, to be able to comply with regulation.
“In 2017, Safe Hands themselves were part of the original group of funeral care plan issuers that came together to discuss the future of the industry and how it should be regulated,” she said.
“With that in mind, you would expect that they would look at what the FCA might require of them, they would be making investments in line with the regulation requirements so they would be ready, well ahead, as many other providers did.”
Both former owners of Safe Hands – Mr Milson and Richard Philip Wells – were contacted about the company’s finances, but they did not respond.
Consumer group Fairer Finance says with a new government in place, it will now push for a public inquiry.
It says it warned the Treasury, and the FCA, in a meeting back in 2017 about the financial situation with Safe Hands and the risk of it collapsing.
It believes if the organisations had taken action, the significant loss for planholders could have been avoided.
The FCA says at the time, it had limited powers as Safe Hands was not regulated.
Meanwhile, a Treasury spokesperson said: “Once concerns were raised about the funeral plan market, we made it illegal to sell pre-paid funeral plans without authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority – protecting 1.6 million customers and their families.”
In response to its ongoing inquiry, the Serious Fraud Office told the BBC that its “active criminal investigation into alleged fraud” by Safe Hands and its parent company SHP Capital Holdings Limited was progressing.
The organisation has not given any indication as to how long the investigation could take, which is of little consolation to those who have lost money – like Margaret and David.
“I think they want criminally prosecuting – to tell the truth,” Margaret added.
“They’ve caused so much pain to such a vulnerable age group.”
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