April 06, 2023 | Read Online

Good morning. Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has reportedly called off his engagement to 66-year-old radio host Ann Lesley Smith two weeks after the news was announced. The 92-year-old billionaire was set to marry for the fifth time just eight months after he divorced wife number four.

We’re back on Tuesday, have a great long weekend!

Big Stories

Finance pay gap persists

The average woman working in the UK finance industry earns around 26% less than her male counterpart, according to the latest government data. That’s a number that has fallen less than three percentage points after five years of British companies reporting their gender pay gap. And it compares with an average wage gap across the whole workforce of 13%. HSBC had the largest gender pay gap in the sector, with women’s median hourly pay coming in 51.1% lower than that of men. Among the better performing industries were manufacturing, retail and arts and entertainment, all of which had median gender pay gaps below the national average.

London dining chain taken over

The owner of Franco Manca and The Real Greek restaurants has sold the business to Toridoll, the Japanese operator of Wok to Walk, for £93m. Fulham Shore was founded in 2012 and acquired both the Franco Manca and the Real Greek brands and now operates 97 restaurants in the UK with revenues of nearly £100m. The new owners plan to take the casual dining brands international and expand into selling products in supermarkets. After being hit by pandemic lockdowns, the hospitality sector is now under pressure from rising energy, staff and ingredient costs plus squeezed consumer budgets. But despite these headwinds Fulham Shore plans to open six new UK restaurants this year.

Tech giants’ UK probe

The UK media regulator Ofcom says it has “significant concerns” that Amazon and Microsoft could be behaving anti-competitively in the cloud computing market. Between them the two US tech firms control 60-70% of UK cloud services. Google, the closest competitor, has only 5-10% market share. Ofcom said all three companies charged customers excessive exit fees to move their data out of a cloud and to another provider. This discourages customers from switching or using multiple providers to best serve their needs, according to the watchdog. Ofcom will now gather feedback on its findings before deciding whether to refer Amazon and Microsoft to the competition regulator for further investigation.

Elsewhere...

Saying farewell: A senior executive at Virgin Orbit has hit out at the leadership in a farewell email, telling staff at the bankrupt rocket firm they "deserved better".

RIP: Tech mogul Bob Lee, who helped create Android and Cash App, has been stabbed to death in San Francisco aged 43.

End of the line: Talks to resolve a long-running row between Royal Mail and staff members over pay and conditions have collapsed.

Cutting ties: The government has suspended its relationship with the business lobbying group the CBI following allegations of sexual misconduct.

Golden goodbye: Luxury jewellery retailer Vashi has gone bust just months after seeking new funding at a valuation of £250m.

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Market Loop - Finance pay gap persists

Big Stories

Finance pay gap persists

London dining chain taken over

Tech giants’ UK probe

Elsewhere...

Loop Likes

Number Of The Day

17.8%

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