Posts made in December, 2015

on Dec 31, 2015

By Jessica Goodfellow Weight Watchers has seen their stock price soar almost 30 per cent over the past two days since Oprah Winfrey shared a video campaign she has fronted for the weight-loss program provider. The video is part of Weight Watchers’ new campaign to showcase its latest holistic approach to food, fitness and wellbeing, and includes advice from brand ambassador, Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey shared the video supporting the company on her Twitter account two days ago (29th December) to a reception of 30 million followers. Winfrey first announced her partnership with Weight Watchers in October, when she bought 10% of WTW stock Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Dec 31, 2015

By Jennifer Faull Major airport retailers including Dixons Travel, WHSmith, and Boots could be affected by a government review into airport retail taxes following consumer outrage over the revelation that retailers ask for boarding cards be shown at point of purchase to avoid paying tax, rather than for security reasons. In order to avoid paying VAT, retailers must scan a passengers boarding card however the majority have decided not to pass the saving on to customers. Research by HMRC indicated that some stores will pocket as much as 50p in every £1 of their VAT discounts. George Osborne said the Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Dec 31, 2015

By Jennifer Faull Sports Direct will funnel £10m into raising its employees wages after £500m was wiped off its stock market value earlier this month (10 December) as the City’ reacted to the Guardian’’s expose on the working conditions among its warehouse staff. Sports Direct announced the decision to the London stock market today (31 December), saying: ““Sports Direct International plc today announces that it has made a commitment that its directly employed UK employees and directly engaged casual workers will be paid above the national minimum wage from 1 January 2016. ““The cost in relation to these direct employees and casual workers Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Dec 31, 2015

By Jessica Goodfellow The producers and broadcasters of US sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’ are being sued for using nursery rhyme ‘Soft Kitty’ in their show without the original author’s permission. The song was written by Edith Newlin, a nursery school teacher from Alstead, New Hampshire in the late 1930s. Her daughters Ellen Newlin Chase and Margaret Chase Perry filed a lawsuit on Monday claiming they were not consulted before the producers used the rhyme on the show. Their mother owned the original copyright for the song and passed it down to her two daughters in her will following her death in 2004. The creators of Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Dec 31, 2015

By Charlotte McEleny This year’s Knights, Dames, MBEs and OBEs have been announced and a slew of media, marketing, business and entrepreneurship names have been awarded. There was also a heavy skew towards technology and coding this year, with Bletchley Park campaigner and computer scientist Dr Sue Black receiving an OBE. Simon Devonshire, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills entrepreneur in residence and former Wayra Europe director also received an OBE. Clare Frances Sutcliffe, founder and chief executive of Code Club, received an MBE for services to technology education. Start-ups and innovators were littered throughout the list and made for an interesting read against the honours Read full story › Source: The Drum...