Closing summary: Thames Water faces the ire of the government and its shareholders
Thames Water, the UK’s largest water company, edged closer to being taken over by the government on Thursday after its shareholders balked at the prospect of giving it £500m after the regulator refused to allow it to raise prices as high as they wanted.
The refusal to stump up the cash could mean that Thames Water is forced into special administration if it is unable to find new investment before its cash reserves run dry at some point next year.
The company’s chief executive, Chris Weston, said it is “a long way off” temporary nationalisation, but did not rule it out.
The debacle has raised questions about what Labour’s approach will be if – as generally expected – it wins a general election in the next year. Labour and the Conservative party’s Michael Gove said they do not want taxpayers or bill payers to pay the cost, but neither have so far backed nationalisation either temporarily or permanently.
In other business news today:
The owner of the Independent has bought the UK operations of BuzzFeed, the entertainment website.
The Sellafield nuclear waste dump is to be prosecuted for alleged information technology security offences, the industry watchdog has said.
The European arm of the Japanese clothing and homeware retailer Muji is to appoint administrators, in another gloomy signal for the UK’s struggling high street.
The collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge is likely to lead to the largest single marine insurance loss ever, the chair of Lloyd’s of London has said.
Official figures have confirmed that the UK economy went into recession at the end of last year, after the latest estimate found it contracted in the last two quarters of 2023.
Former crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, now convicted of fraud, told a US sentencing hearing “I am sorry” for “a series of bad decisions” that “haunts me every day”.
You can continue to follow our live coverage from across the world:
In the UK, Keir Starmer launches Labour local election campaign and defends ‘difficult decisions’ over dropped pledges
In US politics, a judge hears Trump attorney’s free speech arguments in Georgia election subversion case
In US news, Sam Bankman-Fried says ‘I am sorry’ in court before sentencing
In our coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia blocks renewal of North Korea sanctions monitors
In our coverage of the Middle East crisis, the US and Israel are in talks to revive Washington trip to discuss Rafah
Thank you for reading our live business coverage in this shortened week. Enjoy your Easter eggs and do join us again on Tuesday. JJ
BuzzFeed UK taken over by Independent owner
The owner of the Independent news website has taken over the UK arm of publisher BuzzFeed, in a deal that brings to an end the latter’s volatile time operating on its own in the UK.
The Independent will gain BuzzFeed Inc’s UK website, editorial staff and website technology as part of a long-term licensing deal.
BuzzFeed burst on to the UK media scene in 2013, and garnered large audiences – particularly among younger readers – with viral articles and “listicles”, before branching out into a respected news operation.
However, it struggled to convert its audience numbers into profits. In 2017 it cut back its workforce, before disbanding its BuzzFeed News UK team entirely in 2020. Last year it closed the US news team as well.
Under the deal the Independent, which has also faced financial problems that forced the closure of its print newspaper operation, will also take over HuffPost in the UK, food website Tasty, and Seasoned, a brand aimed at black British audiences.
