Dixons boss Sebastian James was on feisty form as he announced a merger with Carphone Warehouse — despite a lukewarm reaction from some in the City who say: “Two past-their-sell-by-date retailers merging does not an Amazon make.”
“That’s right,” James says. “We make a profit. And pay tax.”
James says he is a “blushing bride” but will be top dog as chief executive of the enlarged company. His Carphone counterpart Andrew Harrison will be deputy.
The group will be known as Dixons Carphone, rather than vice versa, as the board decided — to Carphone founder Sir Charles Dunstone’s chagrin — that DC Plc sounded better. Harrison quips all they need to do next is merge with a company called AC to light up the retail scene.
Tett Offensive begins
It’s the Tett Offensive: A top woman journalist has been felled at the New York Times with the ousting of editor Jill Abramson but another is on the rise in the Big Apple. Columnist Gillian Tett is invading to be Financial Times US editor.
Waltham Forest gets bank boost
well done to east London youth charity Community Links and five bankers who together won the inaugural Morgan Stanley UK Strategy Challenge.
The scheme paired groups of Morgan Stanley bankers with four non-for-profit organisations in London for eight weeks, with the City folk providing pro bono strategic advice.
The other chaarities were East London Business Alliance, The Prince’s Trust and Magic Breakfast
The four teams of bankers then presented their work to judges at Morgan Stanley HQ where the Community Links’ team came top with plans to improve their work in Waltham Forest.
Colm Kelleher, boss of Morgan Stanley International, says: “Our teams have made a significant contribution to the charities’ ability to enhance the great work they do over the longer term.”
Busy Harding finds time to keep in the movie picture
TalKTalk chief executive Dido Harding says the telecoms firm’s cut-price TV offering is paying off as customers pay to watch the odd film. Last month’s top sellers were Frozen, Gravity and The Hobbit. “For once, I’ve seen all three of those,” says Harding, who must have a busy diary that she juggles with Tory MP husband John Penrose.
Deal done down the boozer
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Gogglebox and Hollyoaks TV production giant All3Media’s £550 million sale to US mogul John Malone’s Liberty Global and Discovery has “been welcomed by many of All3Media’s creative leaders who met in a London pub on Monday evening to discuss the takeover”, according to TV trade magazine Broadcast.
All3Media expects to be “respected and left to do the right thing”. Once they’ve finished boozing, maybe they should talk to staff at another recent Liberty acquisition, Virgin Media, which has suffered big job losses.
