Friday newspaper round-up: Microsoft, Wyevale Garden
Fri 23 Dec 2005
LONDON (SHARECAST) - The European Commission’s bitter feud with Microsoft escalated yesterday when the software giant was threatened with fines of up to €2m (£1.36m) a day for not fully complying with an antitrust ruling says the Times
The decision to raise the stakes against Microsoft reflects a determination within the Commission to use new powers granted to it last year to police the European Union’s competition rules.
Jo Malins, the insider-dealing finance director of Cambrian Mining, was stripped of share option profits worth £69,000 yesterday as he clung on to his job, the Times writes.
The Cambrian board, while cancelling 70,000 options, defied regulators at the London Stock Exchange saying that it stood by Mr Malins.
Jim Hodkinson, who was ousted as chief executive of New Look for pinching a woman’s bottom at a Christmas party, was appointed chairman of Wyevale Garden Centres yesterday.
The appointment of Hodkinson came after a shareholder meeting at which Laxey Partners, the rebel shareholder, succeeded in winning enough votes to remove David Williams, the incumbent chairman, and two other non-executive directors.
In a surprise move, the Government is to allow savers who opted out of the state second pension (S2P) - formerly known as Serps - to switch their funds into self-invested personal pensions (Sipps). Fidelity and New Star welcomed the about-turn yesterday, as did the Investment Management Association, says the Telegraph.
Ford has injected a further £1.2bn into Jaguar in order to keep the loss-making luxury car maker afloat, it emerged yesterday, reprots the Independent.
The payment means that the US car maker has pumped well over £4bn into Jaguar since it bought the company in 1989 for £1.6bn, not including the losses it has had to shoulder over the past 16 years.
The CBI has withdrawn its support for the policy of increasing paid parental leave for employees in protest at Gordon Brown’s withdrawal of a proposal to reduce red tape, says the FT.
Thus stock quotes
Thus stock charts
Follow this thread
