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British Airways O2 Sports Direct

Morning Bulletin: Formula 1 gears up for £6.5bn sale, Intel puts VR in its sights and BA suffers IT 'meltdown'

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

September 6, 2016 | 4 min read

Tuesday's dose of news you need to know includes Liberty Media taking pole position to buy F1 and British Airways' tech troubles plaguing passengers.

Morning bulletin

morning bulletin

First on the grid this morning, Formula One looks set for new ownership under US-based Liberty Media. Its talks with CVC Partners, which owns a 35 per cent stake in F1, have reached an advanced stage, according to the BBC. The deal, which would finally see F1 change hands after years of rumours, could be confirmed by Wednesday and is reported to be worth £6.5bn.

Sports Direct is to ditch zero-hours contracts, the Guardian reports. The controversial retailer has said it will instead offer staff guaranteed hours and ensure warehouse staff are paid above the national minimum wage. Sports Direct investigated its working practices following the Guardian’s undercover reports about the conditions inside.

Business Insider brings the news that Mars Chocolate UK has won £1m worth of free advertising space from Channel 4 after a competition to find the strongest ads featuring disability and disabled talent. Selected from 90 entries, the winning ads for AMV BBDO for Maltesers feature real-life stories and will launch on 7 September, during the Paralympics opening ceremony.

Movie marketing now and Daniel Craig has been offered £150m to star in two more James Bond films, according to Radar Online. “Everyone knows how much executives adore him, and the idea of losing him at such a crucial time in the franchise isn’t an option as far as all the studio honchos are concerned,” a source told the site. Craig had been expected to relinquish the role after 2015’s Spectre with Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender and Tom Hiddleston among the favourites to be the next 007.

Computing giant Intel has announced that it is acquiring Movidius, a chip maker whose products include computer vision processors used in drones and virtual reality devices. Recode reports that Intel hopes to pair Movidius’s technology with its own RealSense depth-sensing camera technology, and will deploy the technology across augmented, virtual and merged reality, drones, robotics, digital security cameras and beyond.

And on the topic of tech, the Telegraph explains that an IT ‘meltdown’ at British Airways brought misery to travellers who were left unable to check in for their flights. The paper quotes Matthew Walker, who was stranded at Seattle Airport, as saying the glitch left staff unable to check who had gone through security. The airline denied the technical issues were a worldwide problem but apologised to passengers on Twitter for the delay.

Finally today, Telefonica is planning to float its British mobile phone business O2 in what could become one of the biggest IPOs in City history, reports the Times. Analysts told the broadsheet the move could value the mobile firm at more than £10bn and its Spanish owner has confirmed preparatory work to make it happen is underway. The Times heralds the move as a boost for London after some IPOs have been scuppered by uncertainty related to the Brexit vote.

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