Business Markets

The News Corp chairperson has prompted a fierce debate among media watchers with his accusation that Google is “stealing” from his vast newspaper empire and his threat to block the search engine from accessing its content.

The 78-year-old Murdoch has already announced plans to make readers pay to read his newspapers online but his warning that he may also make them invisible to Google has given rise to much speculation about the wisdom of the move.

“I think that when you’re talking about Rupert Murdoch there’s one of two things going on,” said Dan Kennedy, an assistant professor of journalism at North-eastern University.

“One possibility — and I certainly wouldn’t rule it out given his track record — is that he’s two or three steps ahead with something that none of the rest of us have figured out yet,” said Kennedy.

“But I think the other possibility is he really doesn’t understand this medium and he’s making a disastrous mistake and doesn’t realise it yet.”

“His biggest venture into online so far was MySpace and he overpaid for it and picked the worst possible time to buy it,” Kennedy said. Read full post…

Almost half of workers have quit their jobs due to bad management, figures from Chartered Management Institute (CMI) reveal. 

Of the 3,000 workers surveyed, 50 per cent assert that they could do a better job than their current manager, while 49 per cent would be prepared to take a pay cut if it meant working with a better boss.

Ruth Spellman, chief executive of the CMI, says: ‘The figures reveal the depth of the crisis of confidence in UK management and leadership, and the enormous toll bad management is taking on the UK economy and people’s wellbeing.’

In a separate survey of managers, two in five said they did not want the responsibility of managing people, while 63 per cent had received no management training. Of the 1,656 surveyed, only 28 per cent of managers said they held any type of formal management qualification.

Adds Spellman: ‘It’s telling that the majority of individuals never set out to manage people, and have not been trained to do so. If we’re g

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Two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers charged with fraud have been found not guilty by a New York jury.

Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin were cleared of charges including securities fraud and conspiracy charges relating to the collapse of two hedge funds.

Prosecutors had argued the two managers lied to clients to protect bonuses when their funds were losing money.

The hedge funds bet on the high-risk sub-prime mortgage market in the US before they crumbled in June 2007.

The collapse cost investors in the funds about $1.6bn (£0.95bn).

E-mail exchanges

Their closure was one of the first signs of the problems in the sub-prime market, which triggered a massive loss of confidence in financial markets.

Search for a sub-prime villain

In March last year, Bear Stearns became one of the most high-profile victims of the credit crunch, after American banking giant JP Morgan agreed to buy it with the backing of the US Federal Reserve.

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Read the Eskom statement (PDF)

Read Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan speech to Parliament

After two weeks of confusion over a leadership crisis between the board formerly lead by Bobby Godsell and Maroga, Eskom finally called a press conference — following repeated cancellations.

Makwana said the delay was caused by their attempt to resolve the dispute, and to make sure Maroga got a “dignified exit”.

But after two long meetings between Maroga and Makwana since the latter’s appointment on November 9, one of which lasted from 11am to 4.30pm, Makwana said the resignation was final.

“I am satisfied where I stand. Jacob Maroga has resigned, the board has accepted it, and we must move on.”

He said there was no written resignation, but there was a record of a verbal resignation on October 28. “The law is clear in this regard,” he stated. “A resignatio Read full post…

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Dow industrials six-day winning streak came to a halt on Thursday as a drop in oil prices pulled energy stocks lower and a guarded outlook from Wal-Mart fanned worries about consumer spending.

Stocks were also undermined by a U.S. dollar rally, as its safe-haven appeal rose after several policymakers around the world warned the economic recovery was fragile.

With earnings season coming to a close, and looking beyond the Federal Reserve’s meeting last week, investors searched for new catalysts to determine the market’s direction.

“As the S&P 500 has gone above 1,100, it has had a hard time holding on to gains,” said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Shelton, Connecticut.

Both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 hit 13-month closing highs on Wednesday.

Oil futures settled down 3 percent below $77 per barrel as data confirmed crude and refined product inventories rose last week. T

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Many small businesses say they will vote Conservative in the next election.

In a poll from SmallBusiness.co.uk, 36 per cent of respondents say they will vote for David Cameron’s party, while 22 per cent intend to vote Labour, 10 per cent will vote Lib Dem and 15 per cent say they won’t vote at all.

Frank O’Callaghan, owner of sweetshop Humbugs of Towcester, says: ‘Overall, the things that have been done for small businesses have been a token gesture, and I’m not sure there’s been a considered approach to helping and supporting business.

‘I think the next government might be able to tweak and change things for the better, but I’m not expecting a big sea change. Typically I’d vote Conservative, but I’m not convinced that their “get rich quicker” outlook is the right one at the moment.’

Mark Davis, owner of online art shop Obsession Art, says: ‘I feel like the government has been quick to react to the financial crisis, but has only done a couple of things to help SMEs. The idea of reducing

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The rate of businesses going bust dropped between July and September.

Corporate insolvencies were down 4.7 per cent compared to the previous quarter with 4,716 compulsory liquidations, reports the Insolvency Service.

However, the number of businesses going into liquidation in the third quarter was 14.6 per cent higher than in the same period a year ago.

Carl Jackson, national head of business consultancy Tenon Recovery, says: ‘Low interest rates, the temporary reduction in VAT, low inflation and HMRC’s Time to Pay Scheme have given firms some breathing room, but there is a feeling that these initiatives are simply delaying inevitable failure. Once withdrawn, there will be a flurry of failures.’

According to Tenon, the total number of business failures so far this year has already exceeded the figure from the whole of 2008 by 28.8 per cent. The firm estimates 5,000 more businesses will go into liquidation during November and December.