Now that James Murdoch has quit the boards of The Sun and The Times and Sunday Times, as first revealed in these pages yesterday, at least he can't take the rap for this new problem.
Sunday Times iPad subscribers are furious after problems for the last two weeks with downloading the paper. Sunday Times editor John Witherow has now written a personal email of apology to subscribers. "Our teams are working hard to fix the cause of the problem," he says, blaming a "record number of readers" who tried to look at the paper between 8am and 10am. That doesn't seem to be the only technical problem at Wapping. Says a City Spy reader: "News International sent me an email asking me to call and renew my subscription.
But I've finally snapped after six attempts to renew my credit-card details as follows: 'I'm sorry, we're experiencing a high level of calls at the moment. Please hold.' And hold, and hold. Then try again and again, and again." City Spy is sure all of NI's problems with phones are in the past.
* News International says it is just "a matter of housekeeping" that James Murdoch has quit the boards of The Sun and The Times as he will have less time because he is moving to New York. Really? His father Rupert was a director of The Sun and The Times companies for years while living in the Big Apple.
Size matters in LSE vs Japan fight
Is the soon-to-launch Japan Exchange Group, a merger between the Tokyo and Osaka trading exchanges, really going to overtake the London Stock Exchange to become the world's third-biggest stock market? The Tokyo and Osaka exchanges are jointly larger than the LSE in terms of domestic market capitalisation - roughly $3.7 trillion against $3.5 trillion. But this doesn't take into account London's hefty international listings market cap. The LSE has 326 such listings while Tokyo only has about a dozen and Osaka fewer than that. Once international listings are included, the LSE market cap is $5.75 trillion, comfortably ahead of the new merged Japanese entity. On that basis, London won't be giving up its claim to third place behind NYSE and Nasdaq...
* Lord Green, the Trade Minister we know better know as former HSBC boss Stephen Green, has been elucidating on his key advice to smaller would-be exporters on how to crack foreign markets. His suggestion is get to know how business thinks by reading the Financial Times. Heaven help them.
* Thomson Reuters boss Tom Glocer sends a cheery Thanksgiving message to staff: "I know that many people are tired of organizational change and that the rumor mill is hyperactive. I understand. Change and the uncertainty that comes with it are hard to handle." He adds: "The fact that we are changing to keep pace may be a source of anxiety for some, but overall it should be a source of comfort. Any company that tries to stand still today will find itself moving backward. This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for all the good things about our company and that Thomson Reuters is blessed with many thousands of talented people who will settle for nothing less than excellence." That does not sound entirely reassuring...
* Ping! An email from the taxman. HMRC is "launching a new unit to tackle those hiding money and assets offshore". The grandly named Offshore Co-ordination Unit will, apparently, "focus solely on those UK citizens with offshore accounts, using their technical expertise and investigation experience to identify and pursue those who hide income and capital offshore to avoid UK tax and duties". What took them so long?
Gisele stock on upward curve
Forget FTSE tracker funds. The latest index doing the rounds is the Gisele Stock Index. It's all down to Gisele Bündchen, the richest supermodel in the world, who makes about $45 million a year. "Gisele, who receives most of her income in euros and Brazilian reals, is a celebrity endorser and spokesperson for numerous products of many publicly traded companies," reports Stockerblog. Tracking the stocks she is connected with from 2007, the Gisele Bündchen Stock Index - including Volkswagen, Polo Ralph Lauren, Brazilian mobile operator Vivo Participacoes and Procter & Gamble (Pantene shampoo in Brazil) - is up 41% since January 2007. The Dow, by comparison, is down 4%.
Burying bad news at Royal Mail, Shane?
The Royal Mail chose Monday to slip out its half-year results, in which it reported a dramatic plunge in the volume of letters it handles.
Doubtless it was just a coincidence that Royal Mail bosses had not bothered telling the clutch of Fleet Street reporters and newswire journalists who ordinarily cover the postal service. Many found themselves unable to report the story in any detail as they were on duty at the all-day CBI annual conference.
Was this a PR cock-up - had the Royal Mail's press office forgotten to check the events diary? - or
a conspiracy, given that most of the hacks who follow the Royal Mail are generally unsympathetic
to the company?
City Spy could not imagine that the Royal Mail would stoop so low as to bury bad news. But it is a fact that the posties' newish head of communications is one Shane O'Riordan, a man of gargantuan spinning capabilities, as witnessed from his days at Halifax and Lloyds Banking Group.
* Shares in insurance giant Admiral fell by a third earlier this month after a shocker of a profit warning. Judging from City Spy's recent experience with women's car insurance specialist subsidiary Diamond, it is planning to make up the shortfall by taking the cudgel to its existing customers. After an eye-watering renewal quote this week, an internet search quickly produced a rival offer more than £100 cheaper. No explanation for the hike from the chirpy man at the end of the phone, who asks: "Can we see if we can match the price?" No, you bloody well can't. How about offering your best price to a customer of four years' standing in the first place? Goodbye.
Sunday Times iPad subscribers are furious after problems for the last two weeks with downloading the paper. Sunday Times editor John Witherow has now written a personal email of apology to subscribers. "Our teams are working hard to fix the cause of the problem," he says, blaming a "record number of readers" who tried to look at the paper between 8am and 10am. That doesn't seem to be the only technical problem at Wapping. Says a City Spy reader: "News International sent me an email asking me to call and renew my subscription.
But I've finally snapped after six attempts to renew my credit-card details as follows: 'I'm sorry, we're experiencing a high level of calls at the moment. Please hold.' And hold, and hold. Then try again and again, and again." City Spy is sure all of NI's problems with phones are in the past.
* News International says it is just "a matter of housekeeping" that James Murdoch has quit the boards of The Sun and The Times as he will have less time because he is moving to New York. Really? His father Rupert was a director of The Sun and The Times companies for years while living in the Big Apple.
Size matters in LSE vs Japan fight
Is the soon-to-launch Japan Exchange Group, a merger between the Tokyo and Osaka trading exchanges, really going to overtake the London Stock Exchange to become the world's third-biggest stock market? The Tokyo and Osaka exchanges are jointly larger than the LSE in terms of domestic market capitalisation - roughly $3.7 trillion against $3.5 trillion. But this doesn't take into account London's hefty international listings market cap. The LSE has 326 such listings while Tokyo only has about a dozen and Osaka fewer than that. Once international listings are included, the LSE market cap is $5.75 trillion, comfortably ahead of the new merged Japanese entity. On that basis, London won't be giving up its claim to third place behind NYSE and Nasdaq...
* Lord Green, the Trade Minister we know better know as former HSBC boss Stephen Green, has been elucidating on his key advice to smaller would-be exporters on how to crack foreign markets. His suggestion is get to know how business thinks by reading the Financial Times. Heaven help them.
* Thomson Reuters boss Tom Glocer sends a cheery Thanksgiving message to staff: "I know that many people are tired of organizational change and that the rumor mill is hyperactive. I understand. Change and the uncertainty that comes with it are hard to handle." He adds: "The fact that we are changing to keep pace may be a source of anxiety for some, but overall it should be a source of comfort. Any company that tries to stand still today will find itself moving backward. This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for all the good things about our company and that Thomson Reuters is blessed with many thousands of talented people who will settle for nothing less than excellence." That does not sound entirely reassuring...
* Ping! An email from the taxman. HMRC is "launching a new unit to tackle those hiding money and assets offshore". The grandly named Offshore Co-ordination Unit will, apparently, "focus solely on those UK citizens with offshore accounts, using their technical expertise and investigation experience to identify and pursue those who hide income and capital offshore to avoid UK tax and duties". What took them so long?
Gisele stock on upward curve
Forget FTSE tracker funds. The latest index doing the rounds is the Gisele Stock Index. It's all down to Gisele Bündchen, the richest supermodel in the world, who makes about $45 million a year. "Gisele, who receives most of her income in euros and Brazilian reals, is a celebrity endorser and spokesperson for numerous products of many publicly traded companies," reports Stockerblog. Tracking the stocks she is connected with from 2007, the Gisele Bündchen Stock Index - including Volkswagen, Polo Ralph Lauren, Brazilian mobile operator Vivo Participacoes and Procter & Gamble (Pantene shampoo in Brazil) - is up 41% since January 2007. The Dow, by comparison, is down 4%.
Burying bad news at Royal Mail, Shane?
The Royal Mail chose Monday to slip out its half-year results, in which it reported a dramatic plunge in the volume of letters it handles.
Doubtless it was just a coincidence that Royal Mail bosses had not bothered telling the clutch of Fleet Street reporters and newswire journalists who ordinarily cover the postal service. Many found themselves unable to report the story in any detail as they were on duty at the all-day CBI annual conference.
Was this a PR cock-up - had the Royal Mail's press office forgotten to check the events diary? - or
a conspiracy, given that most of the hacks who follow the Royal Mail are generally unsympathetic
to the company?
City Spy could not imagine that the Royal Mail would stoop so low as to bury bad news. But it is a fact that the posties' newish head of communications is one Shane O'Riordan, a man of gargantuan spinning capabilities, as witnessed from his days at Halifax and Lloyds Banking Group.
* Shares in insurance giant Admiral fell by a third earlier this month after a shocker of a profit warning. Judging from City Spy's recent experience with women's car insurance specialist subsidiary Diamond, it is planning to make up the shortfall by taking the cudgel to its existing customers. After an eye-watering renewal quote this week, an internet search quickly produced a rival offer more than £100 cheaper. No explanation for the hike from the chirpy man at the end of the phone, who asks: "Can we see if we can match the price?" No, you bloody well can't. How about offering your best price to a customer of four years' standing in the first place? Goodbye.
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