News Corporation’s first-quarter profits down 30% after drop in television advertising revenue

News Corporation, parent company of The Times, reported a 30 per cent drop in first-quarter profits, as falling revenues from television advertising and declining film studio sales hit the bottom line.

Microsoft looks at Facebook over $47.5bn takeover$

Microsoft is believed to have approached Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, over a possible acquisition of the social networking site. It is believed that Microsoft has sought to gauge Facebook’s level of interest about a potential bid after $47.5 billion ($£24.3 billion) takeover talks with Yahoo!, the online search engine, failed on Saturday. It is not thought that there are any active talks between Microsoft and Facebook.

Mike Ashley under scrutiny from OFT over JJB Sports

Mike Ashley, the billionaire entrepreneur behind Sports Direct, will be forced to justify his recent purchase of a near-5 per cent stake in JJB Sports after competition investigators said that they would examine the deal.

Virgin Media gains £24m a year from Sky deal

Virgin Media this morning revealed that rival BSkyB had agreed to pay it £24 million a year more to carry its Living to Trouble portfolio of cable channels, as it reported that customer numbers had dipped for the second consecutive quarter.

Tiscali to sell UK broadband business to BSkyB

Tiscali, the troubled Italian broadband provider, has confirmed that it is in talks with BSkyB to sell its UK broadband business to the satellite broadcaster.

BSkyB set for £450m Tiscali deal

BSKYB has entered exclusive talks to acquire Tiscali, the troubled internet provider, after rival bidder Carphone Warehouse walked away from the long-running auction.