Author: Loveworld UK

Comcast has triumphed in the auction to buy Sky plc, the owner of Sky News, for £29.7bn in the biggest takeover ever seen in Europe’s media industry. Comcast’s offer of £17.28 per share was £1.61 ahead of Fox’s offer of £15.67.The US giant’s victory follows a dramatic shoot-out with US entertainment giant 21st Century Fox in a rare three-round auction overseen by the Takeover Panel.The result ends 21 months of uncertainty for Sky over its ownership after the company’s independent committee unanimously recommended the offer to shareholders.In a statement Sky plc said: “As the price of the final Comcast Offer…

The owner of British Steel has struck a deal to ‎buy one of the UK’s biggest recyclers of mobile phones following a scramble to secure new funding. Sky News understands that Greybull Capital has taken a majority stake in Redeem, which describes itself as Europe’s leading provider of trade-in and recycle programmes for mobile devices.It works with customers such as Sky Mobile, which is run in conjunction with O2 and is owned by Sky News’ parent company,‎ as well as 3, Tesco Mobile and Vodafone.The deal, which is expected to be announced on Sunday, sees Greybull placing a bet on…

BT Group, Britain’s biggest telecoms company, is in advanced talks to appoint Philip Jansen, the joint boss of payments technology operator Worldpay, as its next chief executive. Sky News can reveal that BT, which said in June that Gavin Patterson would step down later this year, has identified Mr Jansen as its preferred candidate for the post.Sources said this weekend that Mr Jansen, whose CV includes a stint as the managing director of Telewest Communications, had not yet formally agreed to accept the role but suggested that he was expected to do so.”It’s his job to turn down,” said one…

At least 24 have died and 53 more people are injured after gunmen opened fire on a military parade in Iran, according to state media. A child and a woman are among the injured following the attack in Ahvaz, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.The agency claims “four or five terrorists were gunned down by the police”.Fars, another state news agency, says there were four gunmen and that the attack began half an hour after the parade began at 8.30am local time (6am in the UK). Two of the attackers are dead, one wounded and another captured, according to…

A man has died and a teenager is injured following a stabbing in north London. Police arrived at a flat in Wilderton Road, Stamford Hill, just before 1am, after receiving reports of a fight.A 20-year-old man was taken to hospital but died of his injuries several hours later. His next of kin have been informed, officers said, and a murder investigation is under way.The teenager, a 17-year-old, was also admitted to hospital but his injuries are not believed to be serious.No arrests have been made so far.The death comes amid a surge of fatal knife crime in the capital, with…

Half of the City will be working this weekend. The other half wishes it was. Legions of highly-paid lawyers and bankers will be advising American film and TV firm 21st Century Fox and US cable giant Comcast as they prepare to table bids in an auction that will decide the future of Sky plc, the owner of Sky News.Behind Fox are investment banks Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan, plus the Wall Street specialist advisory firm CenterView.Law firms Allen & Overy, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher and Flom, and Simpson Thacher and Bartlett are also on board, plus PR companies…

Five men have been arrested after students in Manchester were allegedly kidnapped and forced to hand over thousands of pounds. Police received four reports that people in the city centre had been robbed after being coaxed into a dark Audi A6 vehicle.Several people claimed they were forced to make online transfers of £3,000 from their bank accounts before being let out of the car.Others reported being driven to petrol stations to withdraw the maximum amount of cash available shortly before midnight, fill the car up with petrol then withdraw more money shortly after midnight.All four victims were allegedly kidnapped between…

The Palestinian chief negotiator says the planned demolition of a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank amounts to “ethnic cleansing”. Saeb Erekat spoke to Sky News as Israel’s supreme court ruled the community of Khan Al Ahmar – which is home to 180 people – should be evacuated and destroyed. The decision followed years of legal wrangling.Israel says the village does not have proper building permits but the Palestinians claim the demolition is to make way for new Israeli settlements.There’s no doubt that Khan Al Ahmar is in a strategic location. It stands on the main road between Jerusalem…

Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell has lost the appeal against his court conviction for failing to provide information to The Pensions Regulator. Judge Christine Henson QC reinforced the view of the trial court that convicted him in January, as she criticised Chappell in court for being “evasive and unbelievable”.Dismissing the appeal at Hove crown court, Judge Henson said she would now re-examine the £50,000 fine issued against Chappell for the three convictions.Chappell was convicted of three charges after being found guilty of failing to disclose details to the pensions watchdog as part of its investigation into the collapse of the…

The RBS Group says it has resolved an IT problem that led to RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank customers losing access to online banking services on Friday, with many locked out of their accounts. It said in a statement: “We would like to apologise to customers who experienced issues logging into their online and mobile banking accounts this morning, this issue has now being resolved.”The problem was initially thought to be a glitch affecting only NatWest customers, but it later emerged the issue was across the entire RBS banking group, where the three brands have about eight million online and…