Bloomberg UK Trade Secretary Liam Fox dismissed fears that foreign companies will slow down their investment in domestic technology businesses, despite the ongoing uncertainty around the country’s exit from Europe. “If you take the legal system, skills of the workforce, the regulatory and tax systems, linguistic skills, access to tech, and IP law, not one of those is affected to ...

Bloomberg Stanford University, hoping to appease officials opposed to its planned expansion, is offering to spend $4.7 billion to relieve pressures on housing and transit that are plaguing residents of California’s Bay Area. The offer would be part of an agreement with Santa Clara County to support the school’s application for a long-term land use permit, according to a statement ...

Bloomberg AbbVie Inc. agreed to buy rival drugmaker Allergan Plc for $63 billion in a deal combining the makers of arthritis drug Humira and wrinkle treatment Botox in a bid to kindle growth. The takeover, at a value of $188.24 a share, is a 45 percent premium to Allergan’s closing price. Allergan rose 33 percent to $172 in pre-market trading ...

Bloomberg Capgemini SE said it will acquire Altran Technologies SA in a 3.6 billion-euro ($4.1 billion) deal in order to win more tech clients and keep up with rivals. Paris-based Capgemini is looking to maintain its position as a major IT consultancy in a consolidating industry, as competitors such as Accenture have been building out their sales from digital projects. ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc. is significantly increasing its footprint in Seattle as it expands on a previously announced plan to boost hiring, bringing an additional 2,000 jobs to the area in the next five years. The iPhone maker signed a lease for office space at 333 Dexter, a 660,000-square-foot (61,300-square-meter) development in the South Lake Union neighborhood being built by Kilroy ...

Bloomberg Glencore Plc is cutting out many of its intermediaries — the agents and dealmakers once essential to cracking the toughest markets — amid growing scrutiny of its operations around the world. Under pressure from its compliance division, Glencore is dismantling much of its glo-bal network of trading agents, according to people familiar with the situation. To continue operating, the ...

Bloomberg Iran said the path to a diplomatic solution with the US had closed after the Trump administration imposed sanctions against its supreme leader and other top officials, raising tensions days after the downing of an American drone brought the Middle East to the brink of war. President Donald Trump unveiled sanctions on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and eight senior military ...

Bloomberg The European Union’s center-right alliance is determined to defy French President Emmanuel Macron in the race to nominate the next EU Commission chief, according to senior party officials. European conservatives were enraged that Macron blocked their candidate for commission president, Manfred Weber, at last week’s summit in Brussels, and suspect he is seeking to undermine their role, even though ...

Bloomberg Poland’s sweeping judicial overhaul, which includes lowering the retirement age of Supreme Court judges, violates European Union rules, the bloc’s top court said in a stinging rebuke of measures described by government critics as a political “purge.” The Polish reform “is not justified by a legitimate objective” and “undermines the principle of the irremovability of judges, which is essential ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson said he believed the British Parliament would now support a no-deal Brexit, even as senior figures in his Conservative Party warned they had the numbers to stop him if he tried to push one through. Johnson, a former foreign secretary, and the favourite to succeed Theresa May as prime minister, used a BBC interview to argue that ...