The Times: Business News

News Corp reaches for the Sky with takeover offer

News Corporation, the media group headed by Rupert Murdoch, confirmed this morning that it had made an offer to take full control of BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster in which it has a 39 per cent stake.

China primes house tax to halt runaway prices

China is considering a wealth tax on homeowners as it grasps at new weapons to halt a frantic rise in property prices that many fear poses the biggest threat to the Chinese economy.

Business big shot: Steve Wiener

It is a dilemma familiar to anyone still clinging to analogue radios or cathode-ray televisions: pay to go digital or wait until prices drop?

Business briefing: old guard pin hopes on new media

Traditional media, from television to newspapers, is pinning its hopes for a recovery in advertising on mobile devices such as the iPad and on the spread of high-speed broadband.

Cowdery lays down his challenge to the banks

Clive Cowdery appears to have confounded the sceptics once again.

Row over bank card and credit card charges

Banks are making hundreds of millions of pounds a year and pushing up prices on the high street by levying “unjustifiably high” fees on credit and debit card sales, retailers will say today.

Dana Petroleum acquires PetroCanada Netherlands

Dana Petroleum paid £270 million for PetroCanada Netherlands yesterday, it’s biggest-ever acquisition.

Virgin ready for shoot-out with internet gaming giants

With titles such as Command and Conquer and Resident Evil, Virgin was regarded as one of the cooler geeks in computer games during the 1990s.

Economy may never recover from banking crisis, warns OBR

The economy, more damaged by the banking crisis than previously admitted, will grow more weakly and may never fully recover, the new Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said yesterday.

Cowdery goes it alone to cut banks’ fees

Clive Cowdery’s Resolution is close to securing a ground-breaking deal to slash investment bank underwriting fees on a rights issue to fund a £2.75 billion acquisition of Axa’s UK life business.