New deal creates UK’s biggest telecom operator

London: Telefonica and Liberty Global have agreed to create the UK’s largest phone and internet operator, threatening their rivals and marking another industry-defining deal for billionaire John Malone. The deal values the combination of Telefonica’s O2 with Liberty’s Virgin Media at 31.4 billion pounds ($39 billion). The companies said in a statement Thursday they plan […]

Production cuts and reopening of economies help raise oil prices

Abu Dhabi: Oil markets closed on their second weekly high on Friday, with Brent trading on $30.97 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) at $24.74, as prices continued to react positively to production cuts by Opec+ along with economies slowly reopening from their COVID-19 lockdowns. “Brent futures added more than 17% and ended the week just […]

Pfizer to outsource production, focus on coronavirus vaccine

New York: Pfizer Inc said on Friday it is in talks to shift more of its medicine production to outside contractors as it prepares for large-scale production of an experimental vaccine to prevent COVID-19, should it prove safe and effective. The U.S. drugmaker is tapping its network of around 200 outside contractors, which includes Catalent […]