Latest news with #US-firm
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK to allow foreign states 15% stake in newspapers
Foreign states will be allowed to own up to 15% of British newspapers and news magazines under new laws. The move follows a takeover bid of the Telegraph and the Spectator by RedBird IMI last year, backed by the Abu Dhabi ruling family, which led the then Tory government to ban foreign-state ownership of UK papers, after an outcry from parliamentarians. But under a law change announced on Thursday, State Owned Investors (SOIs) - including sovereign wealth funds, public pension or social security schemes - will be able to take a stake in UK newspapers. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the changes would protect "media plurality" while helping cash-strapped publishers "raise vital funding". Following a consultation on the ban, Labour said that many newspaper groups believed a complete ban was too restrictive for securing financing. Ministers set the threshold for SOIs at 15% of shares or voting rights in a newspaper or news magazine as it was "the most effective, simple and proportionate approach". The ban was introduced after Lloyds Bank seized the Telegraph and its sister magazine the Spectator from the Barclay family in June 2023 in order to claw back £1bn of debts from its former owners. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, best known in the UK for his ownership of Manchester City football club, threw his considerable financial heft behind a £600m bid by US-firm RedBird to take over the titles. But panic over foreign control of two major UK newspapers led Parliament to enact the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 - which prevents foreign states from acquiring ownership, control or influence over UK newspapers and news magazines. The Spectator was then sold last year for £100m to Sir Paul Marshall, the hedge-fund billionaire, who has installed Lord Gove, the former cabinet minister, as its editor. Government intervenes in UAE bid to buy Telegraph How can traditional British TV survive the US streaming giants? In a statement, Nandy said: "Britain's free and independent press is a national asset like no other and it is right that we have strong measures in place to allow scrutiny of UK takeovers that might go against the public interest. "We are fully upholding the need to safeguard our news media from foreign state control whilst recognising that news organisations must be able to raise vital funding. "We are taking a proportionate, balanced approach to a threshold for low-risk investments that will remove a potential chilling effect on press sustainability." Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK to allow foreign states 15% stake in newspapers
Foreign states will be allowed to own up to 15% of British newspapers and news magazines under new laws. The move follows a takeover bid of the Telegraph and the Spectator by RedBird IMI last year, backed by the Abu Dhabi ruling family, which led the then Tory government to ban foreign-state ownership of UK papers, after an outcry from parliamentarians. But under a law change announced on Thursday, State Owned Investors (SOIs) - including sovereign wealth funds, public pension or social security schemes - will be able to take a stake in UK newspapers. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the changes would protect "media plurality" while helping cash-strapped publishers "raise vital funding". Following a consultation on the ban, Labour said that many newspaper groups believed a complete ban was too restrictive for securing financing. Ministers set the threshold for SOIs at 15% of shares or voting rights in a newspaper or news magazine as it was "the most effective, simple and proportionate approach". The ban was introduced after Lloyds Bank seized the Telegraph and its sister magazine the Spectator from the Barclay family in June 2023 in order to claw back £1bn of debts from its former owners. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, best known in the UK for his ownership of Manchester City football club, threw his considerable financial heft behind a £600m bid by US-firm RedBird to take over the titles. But panic over foreign control of two major UK newspapers led Parliament to enact the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 - which prevents foreign states from acquiring ownership, control or influence over UK newspapers and news magazines. The Spectator was then sold last year for £100m to Sir Paul Marshall, the hedge-fund billionaire, who has installed Lord Gove, the former cabinet minister, as its editor. Government intervenes in UAE bid to buy Telegraph How can traditional British TV survive the US streaming giants? In a statement, Nandy said: "Britain's free and independent press is a national asset like no other and it is right that we have strong measures in place to allow scrutiny of UK takeovers that might go against the public interest. "We are fully upholding the need to safeguard our news media from foreign state control whilst recognising that news organisations must be able to raise vital funding. "We are taking a proportionate, balanced approach to a threshold for low-risk investments that will remove a potential chilling effect on press sustainability." Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Intel stock pulls back from record rally as analysts note barriers to potential deals with TSMC, Broadcom
Intel (INTC) stock fell 6% Wednesday, ending a massive upswing in which shares notched their biggest five-day gain in its history as a publicly traded company. The decline came as analysts expressed skepticism over recent reports of potential deals with TSMC (TSM) and Broadcom (AVGO) to break up the storied US chipmaker. Shares of Intel had surged 16% Tuesday following a Wall Street Journal report over the weekend that its rival, Taiwan's contract chip manufacturer TSMC, has looked at controlling some or all of Intel's semiconductor factories, potentially as part of an investor consortium. The Journal, citing people familiar with the discussions, also reported that Broadcom (AVGO) is considering making a bid for Intel's product business, which designs semiconductors for computers and servers. A news report the the prior week had indicated that the US was floating proposals to TSMC to support Intel's turnaround. One of the proposals would reportedly establish a joint venture between TSMC and Intel, in which TSMC would send engineers to Intel to ensure its manufacturing business is viable. Investors cheered the reports, with Intel gaining 38.5% over the five days ended Tuesday. But Wall Street analysts have voiced concerns over a potential breakup of Intel. Citi analyst Christopher Danley noted that TSMC and Intel use separate manufacturing processes. Because Intel's chips are specifically designed using its own manufacturing processes, it wouldn't make sense for TSMC to take control of its manufacturing facilities, he said. 'Just because two companies are making the same type of chip, they have completely separate software tools, processes, methodologies, all kinds of stuff,' he told Yahoo Finance in an interview Wednesday. 'These guys that have worked at Intel for 10, 20, 30 years would have to learn completely new processes. It would just be a fiasco.' A TSMC-Intel deal could also face scrutiny from regulators at home and abroad. That's because global regulators, including Chinese authorities would need to approve the deal, and they may have antitrust concerns, Wall Street analysts said. And the Trump administration "could be wary of a foreign entity completely taking over an iconic US-firm," Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya wrote in a note to investors Tuesday. Intel has long designed and manufactured semiconductors for itself, but the company opened up its manufacturing business to external customers — launching what's called a foundry — in 2022. The foundry has failed to take on external customers, analysts say, and its product business has lost market share to rivals. Those struggles have made Intel an acquisition target in recent months. As far as a potential Broadcom bid for that product business goes, Danley said the company would need to buy Intel in its entirety, not just part of it, for such an acquisition to be successful. 'There's a lot of synergies between the manufacturing side and the design side,' Danley said. 'I don't think that breaking up their core business makes sense.' Instead, Danley said, Broadcom could buy the product business and divest Intel's merchant foundry, but keep the company's internal manufacturing division. But Intel isn't likely to favor such deals, Danley, Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon and Moor Insights & Strategy's Anshel Sag told Yahoo Finance. That's partly because Intel has insisted that its manufacturing process, which is set to be competitive with TSMC's, is on track for production by the end of 2025. 'I actually don't think it's [Intel's] desperate for cash right now. They've got a few years of runway,' Rasgon said. Analysts also said it wouldn't make competitive sense for TSMC to enter into a joint venture with Intel. 'Why would TSMC help its competitor gain share versus itself? To me that just makes absolutely zero sense whatsoever,' Danley said. Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @ Email her at Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Intel could be worth more than $200 billion if it breaks up
The rumor mill is spinning overtime on struggling Intel (INTC) as the tech icon looks at ways to create shareholder value. Chip rivals Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) and Broadcom (AVGO) are each eying deals with Intel that could break up the company, the WSJ reported over the weekend. Broadcom is reportedly looking to gain control of Intel's lucrative chip design and marketing business. Taiwan Semiconductor is reportedly studying controlling some or all of Intel's chipmaking plants. A spokesperson for Intel didn't immediately return Yahoo Finance's request for comment. A breakup could extract a good bit of value for long suffering Intel shareholders, estimates Evercore analyst Mark Lipacis. In an analysis of Intel's business, Lipacis said Intel is conservatively worth $167 billion or $38.24 a share. Intel's stock currently trades at $24.66, down more than 47% over the past year. The stock has crashed 65% in the last five years to a market cap of $102 billion. Using more robust projections of financial performance for each business, Lipacis estimates Intel could be worth $237 billion or $54.18 a share. A path to a deal could be tough, says Lipacis. "Depending on how a deal is structured, it might require regulatory approval from countries around the world, including China. Also, Intel has historically designed its factories to make x86 CPUs, so it is not clear if Intel's factories would be able to make external chips efficiently with its current physical plant. Finally, Intel's foundry business reported a 76% operating loss in 2024, vs Taiwan Semiconductor's 45% operating margin," he explained. Wall Street analysts at Raymond James, Bank of America, and Bernstein echoed concerns over regulatory hurdles and antitrust issues, with Bank of America's Vivek Arya saying 'any potential INTC split could be time-consuming and complicated.' Plus, any deal involving TSMC and Intel's manufacturing business would face tight constraints given the rules of Intel's CHIPS Act funding, which requires Intel to retain ownership of more than 50% of its foundry, Arya wrote in a note to investors Tuesday morning. The Trump administration 'could be wary of a foreign entity completely taking over an iconic US-firm that has deep involvement with US Department of Defense customers,' Arya wrote. Raymond James analyst Srini Pajjuri said in a note that '[A] better outcome for [the] U.S. government would be to work with TSM separately to expand its U.S. manufacturing footprint.' Intel was awarded $3 billion in US government funding in September to manufacture chips for the military. Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said Broadcom would be a good candidate to take over Intel's products business. "Hock [Tan] has shown the ability to take a hatchet to costs, ruthlessly, while still preserving innovation,' Rasgon wrote of Broadcom's CEO in a note Tuesday morning. Intel has endured a challenging few months. The tech icon parted ways with embattled CEO Pat Gelsinger on Dec. 1. Gelsinger led aggressive efforts to turn around the troubled US chipmaker for more than three years. He slashed thousands of jobs, improved costs, secured CHIPS Act funding, built chip foundries, and promised fast AI chips that could compete with Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD). Intel named CFO David Zinsner and former head of client computing Michelle Johnston Holthaus as the interim co-CEOs. Holthaus was also named Intel Products CEO. Intel will likely fill the CEO role by bringing in a top name from outside the company, Wall Street sources have told Yahoo Finance since Gelsinger's departure. Any permanent CEO will have to repair trust with investors after missing financial targets, and make a decision on the foundry business. It also requires immediately stabilizing the financials. That's in addition to likely exploring a breakup of the company to drive shareholder value. Intel's fourth quarter sales fell 7% year over year to $14.3 billion. Net earnings plunged 76%. The company forecasts it will only break even on the profit line this year. Whatever happens to Intel, it will be important for the US. "Well, it'd be great for the United States if their process, technology arm could be a credible alternative to Taiwan Semiconductor and Samsung. They're trying to do that, but that takes time and a lot of capital so that is a very, very hard thing," Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates told me on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid podcast (video above; listen in below). This embedded content is not available in your region. Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Takeaways will be delivered by drone' in County Durham and Darlington in the future
Takeaways will eventually be delivered by drones in County Durham and Darlington, according to a North East drone expert While there is talk over Amazon selecting Darlington as a location where it will trial delivering packages by drone - attention has turned to what else drones could do in the near future. The accountable manager of North East's leading drone company, heliguy, believes that the future could spell deliveries via drone by JustEat and UberEats. Mark Blaney has set out a vision for the future, which could include drone flights for takeaways and police replacing helicopters with drones. Drone (Image: PA MEDIA) 'Eventually, I believe you will have the likes of Just Eat and Uber Eats using drones instead of drivers to deliver your Chinese takeaway on a Saturday night,' said Mark, who has almost two decades of experience in the drone industry.. 'And while it makes sense that Amazon would be the first major company to trial drone deliveries, I think by the end of this decade, you will see more businesses using drones to make deliveries. Mark Blaney (Image: HELIGUY) While the question of takeaways delivered by drone has been raised, it's understood that companies such as JustEat and Uber Eats have not officially put out anything relating to drones - but have been contacted by The Northern Echo for a comment on this. Meanwhile, for Amazon, the UK-first trial will see Amazon make Prime Air deliveries in a pre-selected 7.5 mile area, with drones guided from the firm's huge Symmetry Park warehouse. A pizza (Image: NORTHERN ECHO) While the plans have generated a buzz, Amazon still has several hurdles to clear - including securing both planning permission and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approval - with the US-firm acknowledging there is 'still much work to do' before the flights become reality. Heliguy recently received the CAA's first-ever permission to make beyond visual line of sight flights in an atypical air environment, which effectively means they can fly a drone-based anywhere in the UK - remotely from our North Shields base. Having secured that UK-first approval from the CAA, heliguy's now in a position to use drones to carry out everything from remote security patrols to pipeline and turbine inspections, without the need for a pilot on-site - a 'gamechanger' for businesses as it makes the jobs quicker, cheaper and more thorough. Recently, it worked with Durham County Council to inspect over 5,000 solar panels at the authority's Morrison Busty eco-depot. Recommended reading: 'Will it video my house?' Darlington residents react to Amazon drone deliveries plan Firefighters battle van fire on busy A-road as pictures show flames raging Tributes paid to much-loved former County Durham headteacher Frank Ridley Previously, the mammoth task took days to complete - but with the help of heliguy's drones, it took just 80 minutes. Following on from this work, Mark believes that as the public trust in drones grows, they will become more widespread. He added: 'Within ten years, I could even see the police helicopter being replaced by 24/7 drones - or a fleet of them - and eventually you will look up and they'll be doing everything.'
