Bloomberg Comcast Corp. formalised its 22 billion pound ($30.7 billion) bid for Sky Plc, throwing down the gauntlet to Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. and Walt Disney Co as they vie for Britain’s largest pay-TV broadcaster. Sky’s independent board members welcomed the offer and said they’re withdrawing their recommendation that shareholders accept the Fox proposal. Comcast is offering 12.50 ...

Bloomberg A US House committee has begun a new investigation into allegations of overseas emissions cheating by Volkswagen AG and was seeking testimony from the automaker’s chief executive officer Herbert Diess. In a letter, House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, said the committee was investigating reports that Volkswagen “continues to circumvent global emissions requirements” ...

Bloomberg Britons were only beginning to use steam engines, canals and factories the last time the UK experienced such a poor decade of productivity. Total factory productivity since 2007 was the worst since the late eighteenth century, around the time of the industrial revolution, according to a Bank of England blog post on Wednesday. Average productivity growth was negative for ...