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Government delays overhaul of business rates

Move means hard-hit industries face another year of high bills




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Trainline’s investment case is at risk of hitting the buffers

Tickets website has to navigate an overhaul of UK rail’s supporting infrastructure




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US extends Venezuelan oil refiner Citgo’s lifeline

Treasury also licenses Chevron to operate in crisis-hit nation for a further 3 months




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Church of England raises pressure on miners over dams

Investor group led by the CofE launches database to track tailings dams after Brazil disaster




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Coronavirus boosts digital banking as Argentines lose fondness for cash

SoftBank-funded fintech challenger Ualá expands rapidly amid the pandemic




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Consumers pay big price after free cash machines close

Withdrawal fees soar to £104m and banks save £120m in ATM shake-up




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Coronavirus: US business leaders call for co-ordinated approach — as it happened

The number of US deaths attributed to Covid-19 surpassed 45,000 on Friday, while the rate of new cases remained flat

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Coronavirus: Small business loan scheme capped for US banks — as it happened

In today’s news: UK warns it would be ‘irresponsible’ to discuss easing lockdown. Spain sets out plan to lift its own tough measures. Donald Trump signals a halt to his daily media briefings as US death toll accelerates.

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Ineos acquires French football club Nice

Jim Ratcliffe-led chemicals group adds top-flight team to growing sports portfolio




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Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos to sponsor Mercedes Formula One team

Move boosts chemicals group’s growing sports investment portfolio




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Ineos: why Jim Ratcliffe is mixing petrochemicals and sports

Amid charges of greenwashing from activists, the private company is investing in football, cycling and other ventures




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Countingup scores £4M bridge round for its small business banking and accounting app

Countingup, the business current account that “automates” your accounting, has raised £4 million in self-described bridge funding. Leading the round is ING Ventures, with co-investment from Triple Point, CVentures, and BiG Start Ventures. Founded by Tim Fouracre, who previously founded cloud accounting software Clear Books, and now boasting 20,000 business customers, Countingup’s long term vision […]




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Short sellers circle virus sinners; Amazon’s looming shareholder battle; Businesses fight for prisoner releases

Your guide to the investment and business revolution you can’t afford to ignore




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Vaccines and antibiotics made the west complacent. This must change

Rich countries need to fund infectious disease treatments properly




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My pity package of Chinese face masks sends a bigger message

As US health workers suffer from inadequate protection, there are signs of a shifting world order




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Merkel’s successor must confront Germany’s decline

Investment strategies have failed to prepare the country for the technology shock




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Pinn’s illustration of the week: ‘A beautiful timeline’

Donald Trump plans to reopen US for business despite coronavirus




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Bird is testing Bird Pay, which lets users purchase items from local businesses using its main app

Another on-demand transport app is making a move into payments to expand the existing relationship with its customers (and subsequent margins that it makes from serving them). Bird today announced the launch of Bird Pay, a service that will let people use its app to purchase items from local participating businesses alongside renting scooters. The service […]




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Online printing site Doxzoo exposed thousands of customer files

Doxzoo proudly says on its website that your “documents are in safe hands.” But for some time, that wasn’t true. The U.K. printing company left its customer files on a cloud storage bucket, hosted on Amazon Web Services, without a password. Anyone who knew the easy-to-guess bucket name could access the massive trove of customer […]




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Samsung’s new ‘eco’ TV packing transforms into cat houses, shelves and magazine racks

Here’s a nice thing. It’s not revolutionary or life-changing, but it’s nice. And right now we can all use a little bit of nice. Earlier this month, Samsung announced an addition to its line of “eco-packing” that will turn TV boxes in a wide variety of different “furniture.” I use furniture in quotes here because […]




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SkyCell raises $62M for smart containers and analytics to transport pharmaceuticals

While human travel has become severely restricted in recent months, the movement of goods has remained a constant priority — and in some cases, has become even more urgent. Today, a startup out of Switzerland that builds hardware and operates a logistics network designed to transport one item in particular — pharmaceuticals — is announcing […]




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Sinch acquires SAP’s Digital Interconnect messaging business for $250M

M&A activity has generally slowed down in the weeks since the novel coronavirus took a grip on the world, but there have been some pockets of activity in the tech industry when the price is right or when the divestment/acquisition just makes sense. The world of messaging brings us the latest development in that theme: SAP, […]




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Chinese electric car start-up Nio announces $989m cash injection

Investment in company’s new China entity is led by state-owned enterprises




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The loneliness of the recovery trade

Mike Mackenzie’s daily analysis of what’s moving global markets




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COVID-19 quarantine boosts smart speaker usage among U.S. adults, particularly younger users

The coronavirus outbreak has driven more consumers to turn to their smart speakers for news, information, music and entertainment, according to new data released today by NPR and Edison Research. Around three-quarters of U.S. adults 18 and up said their routines have been impacted due to COVID-19 and their media habits have changed as a […]




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How can I prepare for business tax changes?

I employ 10 people and also own a couple of buy-to-let properties




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How can I manage the succession of our family business? 

My mother has early onset dementia and her health is deteriorating rapidly




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Daily Crunch: iPhone sales decline in Q1

Apple’s earnings show the impact of COVID-19, NVIDIA’s top scientist shares an open source ventilator design and Amazon anticipates big spending in the coming months. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 1, 2020. 1. iPhone sales are down, ahead of uncertain times for the industry Apple device sales have taken a hit, but the company’s […]




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Apple’s online WWDC kicks off June 22

Back in March, Apple joined a rapidly growing number of companies announcing an online-only model for their annual tech events. At the time, SVP Phil Schiller promised the event would be “an innovative way to reach millions of developers around the world, bringing the entire developer community together with a new experience,” as planners across […]




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NHS COVID-19: The UK’s coronavirus contacts-tracing app explained

The UK has this week started testing a coronavirus contacts-tracing app which NHSX, a digital arm of the country’s National Health Service, has been planning and developing since early March. The test is taking place in the Isle of Wight, a 380km2 island off the south coast of England, with a population of around 140,000. […]




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Home working’s fine — if you’re home alone

’I’m on my second day, drinking too much coffee and feeling I’d enjoy it more if everyone else wasn’t here too’




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Death can be an expensive business

One third of over-55s don’t even have a will — but they can get one for free in October




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UK Budget sides with small businesses, with a caveat

The chancellor need beware that policies introduced in a crisis are hard to end later





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Jeff Weiner will step down as CEO of LinkedIn June 1, product head Ryan Roslansky steps up

There is a major change ahead for LinkedIn, the social network for the working world, now with 675 million members. Jeff Weiner, who has been leading the company as CEO for the past 11 years, is stepping down on June 1, 2020. His new role will be executive chairman. Ryan Roslansky, who is currently head […]




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Online learning marketplace Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse

The internet has, for better or worse, become the default platform for people seeking information, and today one of the companies leveraging that to deliver educational content has raised some funding to fuel its next stage of growth. Udemy, which provides a marketplace offering some 150,000 different online learning courses from business analytics to ukulele […]




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Silicon Valley could be Biden’s funding lifeline post South Carolina

Presidential candidate Joe Biden is likely to throw a fundraising lifeline to Silicon Valley after his commanding South Carolina victory and heading into the next wave of primaries. A pro-Biden Super PAC, Unite the Country — whose past backers include senior tech figures — is picking up efforts to tap wealthy donors, Treasurer Larry Rasky […]




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Chinese startup Rokid pitches COVID-19 detection glasses in US

Thermal imaging wearables used in China to detect COVID-19 symptoms could soon be deployed in the U.S. Hangzhou based AI startup Rokid is in talks with several companies to sell its T1 glasses in America, according to Rokid’s U.S. Director Liang Guan. Rokid is among a wave of Chinese companies creating technology to address the […]




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Indian smartphone market grew by 4% in Q1, but projected to decline by 10% this year

India has emerged as one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the last decade, reporting growth each quarter even as handset shipments slowed or declined elsewhere globally. But the world’s second largest smartphone is beginning to feel the coronavirus heat, too. The Indian smartphone market grew by a modest 4% year-over-year in the quarter […]




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AWS engineer Tim Bray resigns from Amazon following worker firings

As many Amazon workers called out sick for a May Day Strike, Tim Bray was spending his final day at the company. The VP and distinguished Engineer at Amazon Web Services announced today that May 1 was his final day with the retail giant, citing Amazon’s firings of vocally critical employees. Likely most notable for […]




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Nine senators — including Warren and Sanders — pen open letter to Amazon about worker firings

A group of nine Senators led by Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren penned an open letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos this week, seeking more information about recent employee firings. The statement cites the terminations of four employees who were vocally critical of the company’s policies pertaining to both COVID-19 and climate change. Cosigned by Bernie […]




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Daily Crunch: iPhone sales decline in Q1

Apple’s earnings show the impact of COVID-19, NVIDIA’s top scientist shares an open source ventilator design and Amazon anticipates big spending in the coming months. Here’s your Daily Crunch for May 1, 2020. 1. iPhone sales are down, ahead of uncertain times for the industry Apple device sales have taken a hit, but the company’s […]




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NHS COVID-19: The UK’s coronavirus contacts-tracing app explained

The UK has this week started testing a coronavirus contacts-tracing app which NHSX, a digital arm of the country’s National Health Service, has been planning and developing since early March. The test is taking place in the Isle of Wight, a 380km2 island off the south coast of England, with a population of around 140,000. […]




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NHS COVID-19: The UK’s coronavirus contacts-tracing app explained

The UK has this week started testing a coronavirus contacts-tracing app which NHSX, a digital arm of the country’s National Health Service, has been planning and developing since early March. The test is taking place in the Isle of Wight, a 380km2 island off the south coast of England, with a population of around 140,000. […]




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Business feels the fear in Australia-China trade dispute

Canberra’s call for an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus has provoked threats from Beijing




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Nintendo collects lockdown power-up as sales shift online

Jump in downloads helps Japanese video game group score 41% rise in profit




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Trump’s erratic China policy undermines western unity

Washington’s stance is alarming US allies when a joint approach is needed




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Chinese stranded abroad accuse Beijing of abandoning them

Government’s travel ban due to coronavirus makes it nearly impossible for citizens to return home




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It’s the end of globalism as we know it (and I feel fine)

For the most part, its unravelling ought to be of deep concern. But we need a new social compact




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Argentina misses deadline for debt restructuring deal

Bondholders await government’s next move as fears of default intensify