The owner of the Scotsman and Yorkshire Post has revealed it is plotting a surprise takeover of much larger rival Reach, the parent company of the Mirror and Express titles and hundreds of regional newspapers including the Manchester Evening News. National World, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and run by the former boss of the Mirror newspaper group David Montgomery, has said that it is in the early stages of a potential offer for Reach. – Guardian
Elon Musk will begin mass layoffs at Twitter on Friday, sharply reducing the social media platform’s workforce, the company said in an email to staff on Thursday. “In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday,” said the email. The New York Times and Washington Post both reported on the layoffs and cited the internal email. – Guardian
Deloitte has axed half of its 16-person executive team and replaced them with younger partners as part of a major overhaul of its UK leadership. The Big Four accounting and consulting firm said eight of its most senior partners, including its managing partner, will leave its executive team to make way for six newcomers in an unexpected reshuffle. – Telegraph
Jeremy Hunt is preparing a raid on entrepreneurs, savers and landlords to help plug the £50bn hole in Britain’s public finances, The Telegraph can reveal. The Chancellor is considering an increase in the headline rate of capital gains tax (CGT) and taxes on dividends at the Autumn Statement. – Telegraph
Mining giant Glencore has been ordered to pay £281 million in penalties after a judge said it had committed “corporate corruption on a widespread scale” across Africa through the “disease” of bribery. Sentencing the FTSE 100 company after a two-day hearing at Southwark crown court in London, Mr Justice Fraser said “the facts demonstrate not only sustained criminality but sophisticated devices to disguise it”. – The Times
