Business

The sharp decline in house prices took a pause for breath last month, according to a closely-watched report. Nationwide said prices were unchanged in September compared to the previous month. The lender had reported a 0.8% fall in August. It meant that prices were still 5.3% lower than a year earlier, equalling the biggest annual

The German media giant which publishes Die Welt, one of Europe’s leading newspapers, has joined the race to buy The Daily Telegraph and its Sunday sister title. Sky News can exclusively reveal that Axel Springer has registered its interest in acquiring the British broadsheets. Insiders said the company, which also owns the Business Insider and

A British start-up which helps to forecast floods more accurately has raised £2m from a syndicate of prominent investors. Sky News understands that Previsico, which was spun out of Loughborough University in 2019, has secured the backing at a significant premium to its previous funding round. The round was led by 24Haymarket, the angel investor

Vivendi, the global media conglomerate, is exploring a sale of its See Tickets division and the organiser of the annual Love Supreme music festival in east Sussex. Sky News has learnt that Paris-headquartered Vivendi, which owns the French broadcaster Canal Plus and the marketing services giant Havas, is working with advisers on a potential disposal

Spotify Technology is testing an artificial intelligence (AI) powered feature that will translate podcasts into other languages. Powered by Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s newly released voice generation technology, translated versions of podcasts will mimic the original speaker’s style and will be more natural than traditional dubbing, Spotify said. Podcasts such as Armchair Expert from actor Dax Shepard,

The shootout between one of the world’s largest tech companies and Britain’s competition regulator is, at heart, a battle for control of the new frontline of gaming.  The gaming industry is a $250bn (£204bn) industry that, on some measures, is now larger than the music, book and movie industries combined. And the fastest growing part

A sports streaming service whose customers include Manchester City Football Club, the Premier League champions, has collapsed into administration after the failure of funding talks. Sky News has learnt that Recast, which is based in Edinburgh, called in Interpath Advisory to handle its insolvency on Friday. The company operates a subscription-free live and on-demand platform

Ian King’s show looks at the biggest gaming deal in history – he’s speaking to Sarah Cardell from the Competition and Markets Authority about its approval of Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard. There’s also an analysis of the latest retail sales figures by John Stevenson from Peel Hunt. And Sashola Prestcote and Stella Pozzi, the

Microsoft’s revised effort to get the £55bn takeover of Activision Blizzard past UK regulators appears to be on track for clearance. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had been a sole thorn in the side of the acquisition, rejecting the original terms on the grounds it had a duty to protect innovation and choice in

The headline numbers don’t do justice to the significance of the inflation data. On the surface, this only looks like a small fall, with the consumer price index (CPI) dropping from 6.8% in July to 6.7% in August. So what, you might ask? After all, it’s a far smaller drop than the one we heard

Elon Musk has said he will start charging people to use the social media site formerly known as Twitter. NBC News reports the billionaire businessman, who renamed the platform to X, revealed on a live stream that the company would introduce a “small monthly payment” to combat “vast armies of bots”. Musk has long complained

Marks & Spencer is swapping plastic bags for paper ones across all of its stores following a successful trial. The retailer has become the latest chain to opt for the more environmentally friendly bags following Morrisons, Waitrose and Aldi, which all use paper bags for customers – though some stores offer plastic bags as an

The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has revealed its transformation plan will take two more years to complete than expected, while revealing a fall in losses over the first half of its financial year. The employee-owned company, in which staff are known as partners, said that a combination of higher costs due to inflation and a

A landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google begins today, with the California-based company accused of using illegal means to keep its monopoly power. The historic legal battle against federal government lawyers – which comes just a week after Google’s 25th birthday – is set to be the biggest in almost two decades, the outcome of which

Ian King and Sky’s business correspondent Paul Kelso discuss BMW’s plan to build its next-generation electric Mini in Oxford. As a rescue deal to buy some Wilko stores collapses, Ian speaks to Julie Palmer, regional managing partner at the corporate rescue and recovery practice Begbies Traynor Group, about what this means for employees. And Space

The boss of the UK’s largest household energy supplier has been forced to defend record profits amid warnings of worse times ahead for household bills this winter. In evidence to the energy security and net zero committee of MPs, the chief executive of British Gas parent firm Centrica, Chris O’Shea, insisted the 889% surge in

Mortgage approvals dropped almost 10% last month, new Bank of England figures show. The net decrease – from 54,600 in June to 49,400 in July – is a five-month low and worse than expected. A poll of economists predicted the figure would be around 51,000. It comes following a string of figures from lenders and

The Gulf’s growing prominence in international sport will take another step forward on Thursday when a Qatari state vehicle unveils a deal to create a new global padel tour. Sky News has learnt that Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), the owner of Paris Saint-Germain, the French Ligue 1 football club, will announce it has formally agreed

The US tech firm that dominates the market for chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) has delighted investors with a doubling in quarterly revenue, promising more of the same in future. Nvidia shares gained almost 10% in after-hours trading in New York on Wednesday night when it revealed a string of numbers that beat analysts’

Energy bills are to rise higher than last year for millions this winter, despite the energy price cap falling, a think tank has said. Withdrawn energy supports and a rise in the daily standing charge will mean winter bill costs going up for one in three English households, the Resolution Foundation said. That’s despite the