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Bloomberg The dark storm clouds that have been hanging over the oil industry during the crude-price slump have suddenly started raining cash. After cutting billions of dollars of costs to survive the biggest downturn in decades, Big Oil is now riding a price rebound to generate enough cash to pay dividends and still have plenty left over. The big question ...

Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc is in talks to sell two Nigerian oil licenses in an area that’s at the heart of environmental and human rights controversies for $2 billion, according to people familiar with the plan. The Anglo-Dutch oil major is discussing selling oil mining licenses 11 and 17 to Heirs Holdings Ltd, a company run by Nigerian tycoon ...

Bloomberg Protectionism is starting to weigh on the euro area’s economy. Growth in the region softened in July on weaker new orders and deteriorating confidence, according to a survey published on Tuesday. More worryingly, companies reported rising prices for raw materials, delivery delays and shortages, suggesting that tariffs — or the threat thereof — are already starting to disrupt global ...

Bloomberg British firms that get foreign direct investment (FDI) are more productive, especially small and medium-sized businesses. Experimental data from the Office for National Statistics showed that small firms that received money from overseas were 147.2 percent more productive on average than their counterparts. Medium firms saw a 197.4 percent boost, the report said. While just 1.1 percent of British ...

Bloomberg Sonos Inc., the wireless speaker pioneer taking on Amazon.com Inc., Google and Apple Inc., plans to raise as much as $264.1 million in its upcoming initial public offering. While the wireless speakers market is booming — Sonos says its customers listen to about 70 hours of content a month — competition has increased since the company introduced its first ...

Bloomberg Google is still raking in marketing dollars from advertisers, propelling the online search giant to another strong quarter in the face of costly regulatory trouble in Europe. The shares jumped as much as 6.1 percent in extended trading, putting them on course for a record. Parent company Alphabet Inc. reported second-quarter sales, minus partner payouts, of $26.24 billion during ...

Bloomberg Italian coffee maker Illycaffe SpA has attracted interest from suitors including JAB Holding Co. and Nestle SA, but the family owners have so far rebuffed approaches, according to people familiar with the matter. JAB, which has built a coffee empire through a series of acquisitions, is interested in acquiring all of the Trieste-based coffee roaster, according to the people, ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. will double the amount of space it occupies in London as technology firms continue to expand in the UK. The new office buildings in the city’s King’s Cross district will have room for more than 6,000 people, compared with a target of 2,300 workers by the end of this year. Facebook’s statement did not say how many ...

Bloomberg Apollo Global Management LLC will buy hospital chain LifePoint Health Inc. for $65 a share, expanding the private equity firm’s ambitions in rural health care. The deal values LifePoint at $2.52 billion, or $5.6 billion including debt and a minority interest, the firms said in a statement. The price is a 36 percent premium to where LifePoint shares closed ...

Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s food delivery platform Ele.me plans to spend $443 million this quarter trying to wrest customers from Meituan Dianping. Ele.me wants to command more than half of all food delivery transactions in China over the short- to medium-term, according to Chief Executive Officer Wang Lei, who took the reins after Alibaba acquired the startup this year. ...