Business

It’s hard to imagine the internet without Google. The tech giant has become so synonymous with searching the web that it has become a verb – we don’t look it up, we “Google it”. Google ended 2022 as it ends every year, as the most visited website in the world. Its estimated share of the

Government borrowing hit its highest December figure since records began last month, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a total of £27.4bn – a leap of almost £17bn on the same month a year ago. It blamed £7bn in costs from energy support schemes. Added to that was interest payments

Spotify has become the latest company in the technology sphere to announce big job cuts, with 6% of the workforce to go in the coming months. The Sweden-based US-listed music streaming firm said a broader shake-up of its operations would see its chief content officer Dawn Ostroff leave the business. The number of employees set

Grant Shapps has launched a crackdown on energy suppliers, following reports some are not doing enough to support vulnerable customers amid the cost of living crisis. The Business and Energy Secretary has written a letter to energy suppliers, telling them to stop the practice of forced fitting prepayment meters as the answer to families struggling

Climate change is slipping down the international agenda, raising the risk governments will slow their pace in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the head of a global energy watchdog has told Sky News. Speaking on the fringes of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said the mood

Google workers in the UK and Ireland face uncertainty after its parent company Alphabet announced 12,000 jobs are to be axed globally. The Silicon Valley giant employs more than 5,000 staff in both countries, but the company would not be drawn on how the mass redundancies would impact them. The “difficult news” about the job

The King has again signalled his wish to potentially shake up the way the monarchy is funded following a £1bn wind farm deal that could have created more money for the royals. Six new offshore wind energy lease agreements, announced by the Crown Estate, have generated a major windfall for the estate – and would

Microsoft has confirmed plans for 10,000 job cuts across its global operations as the US tech sector continues to adapt to the tougher economy. Sky News revealed on Tuesday how Microsoft, which employs more than 220,000 people including 6,000 in the UK, was finalising plans for the layoffs as sales growth is knocked by increased

Currys has reported a slump in Christmas sales, with the football World Cup even failing to bolster demand for TVs. The electricals retailer said the cost of living crisis meant traditional favourites were out of favour as consumers hunted energy efficient appliances instead. Like-for-like sales in the UK and Ireland fell 5% in the 10

Microsoft is preparing to axe thousands of jobs in the latest move by one of the world’s biggest technology companies to reduce its workforce in the face of a slowing global economy. Sky News has learnt that the US software giant could announce plans to cull a significant number of posts around the world within

With house prices starting to fall in recent months, Ian King speaks to Tim Bannister from Rightmove about the market. He’s also joined by the Global Head of Commodities Research at Goldman Sachs who has more on what investors can expect from the next year. There are going to be more jobs at M&S and

The average price of a home jumped by £3,301 this month, at the same time as Rightmove saw double the amount of inquiries from prospective buyers. Across Britain the average asking price is now £362,438, which is 0.9% higher than in December, Rightmove said. It follows two months of falling prices, with January’s typical price

Apple chief executive Tim Cook is to take a pay cut of more than 40% after shareholders turned on the size of his awards last year. The company said he requested the move after fewer than two-thirds of Apple investors supported his pay package at the tech firm’s annual meeting in 2022. Regulatory filings on

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has raised its earnings forecast for 2022 on the back of soaring energy prices. Shares surged to levels not seen since May 2019 following the company’s update. Centrica credited its electricity generation and gas production activities for the upgrade – as opposed to profitability at its household supply arm.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is cutting up to 500 jobs. The move, announced in a memo seen by Insider and Bloomberg, comes as Wall Street continues to downsize in the face of high interest rates that have raised the risk of a recession. BlackRock had 19,900 employees as of 30 September, according to

Emmanuel Macron is clearly either very brave or very foolhardy. What is beyond doubt, though, is that the French president is not lacking in self-confidence. Those are the conclusions that can be drawn after Mr Macron unveiled a policy reform that, the last time he tried it, led to street protests in France and months

A prominent British fintech is in talks with rival suitors including Africa’s largest payments technology company about a sale that would take place at a steep discount to an earlier funding round. Sky News has learnt that Railsr – which was previously known as Railsbank – is fielding offers from potential buyers including Flutterwave, which

All businesses are set to secure further taxpayer support for their energy bills when the current scheme ends in March but at a reduced cost to the taxpayer. The government is set to confirm later on Monday that it has decided on applying a discount to wholesale prices, for up to a year, following talks

House prices have dropped for the fourth month in a row as cost of living pressures and higher borrowing costs dampen demand. The average house price fell to £281,272 in December, according to data from Halifax. It was a 1.5% decrease from November prices, which had already fallen more than 2%, representing the fastest decrease

WhatsApp is introducing a new feature designed to help users bypass government-enforced internet shutdowns. The update lets people connect to the messaging platform via proxy servers – an alternate route for those whose direct access is blocked. Rather than connecting directly to the desired website or service, a user connects to a proxy, which essentially