AMAZON and Microsoft are facing fresh scrutiny from regulators over their dominance in cloud computing.
Watchdog Ofcom has referred the duo to the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) amid concerns their grip was stifling rivals.
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The tech giants have an 80 per cent share of the cloud computing market, an Ofcom study into Amazon’s Web Services arm found.
Google has 10 per cent.
The UK cloud computing market has been valued at £7.5billion.
Cloud computing has become a key part of the digital world with firms, governments and the public sector storing information on servers now called “the cloud”.
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Doing so removes their need for hardware to, for example, keep information, stream music and save photos and videos.
Fergal Farragher, of Ofcom, said many industries now “rely on remote computer power that goes unseen”.
He said the regulator had referred its cloud computing study to the CMA after some UK firms “told us they’re concerned about it being too difficult to mix and match cloud providers”.
Amazon and Microsoft said they would engage with the CMA probe.
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However, Amazon said it believed Ofcom’s findings were based on a “misconception”.
It added: “Only a small percentage of IT spend is in the cloud, and customers can meet their IT needs from any combination of on-premises hardware and software, managed or co-location services, and cloud services.”
They said unwarranted intervention could lead to unintended harm as customers make hundreds of millions of data transfers a day.
It said more than 90 per cent pay nothing for data transfer as they get 100 gigabytes a month for free.
New car sales still on the up
CAR sales revved 21 per cent higher in September with 272,610 vehicles sold.
While sales remain a fifth below pre-pandemic levels, drivers were still keen to get their hands on a new number plate.
Demand for electric vehicles has kept growing, with 45,323 cars sold in September, 18.9 per cent more than last year.
Mike Hawes, of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: “The new car market remains strong despite economic challenges.”
But he said tougher EV targets next year need to be supported by mandatory targets for rolling out charging points.
Puma’s shares mauled
PUMA took a kicking yesterday after analysts decided its hope of hitting a £580million profit “may be out of reach”.
Shares in the German sportswear brand, which has released a Puma X Fenty trainer range with singer Rihanna sank more than 11 per cent on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
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Puma declined to comment.
Minted imperial
IMPERIAL BRANDS announced plans to buy back £1.1billion in shares yesterday — a day after Rishi Sunak announced he is to ban cigarette sales to anybody born after January 2009.
Shares, which fell on the PM’s declaration, rose by 61.5p, or 3.8 per cent, to £16.41.
The tobacco giant, which warned of “unintended consequences” from the prohibition, said it wanted to reward investors after price rises boosted its recent sales figures.
Profits of pawn king over £10m
PAWNBROKER Ramsdens is on track to make record profits this year as the cost of living crisis has increased demand for its services.
Ramsdens said that profits would be more than £10million in the year ending September 2023, compared with £8.4million last year.
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The bumper earnings come after the pawn shop chain said that its loan book had grown by 20 per cent to a record £10.3million.
August was a record month for lending.
It said that on average customers were taking out loans worth £174.
Ramsdens has also reported a 50 per cent rise in people selling off family heirlooms to take advantage of a strong gold price and selling either their unwanted or damaged jewellery.
Analysts have said that pawnbroking chains are booming as other loan providers have been shut down or been restricted due to increased regulation.
WFH ends in three years
NEARLY two-thirds of company bosses reckon there will be a full return to offices within the next three years, according to a survey.
The global poll by KPMG found 64 per cent of chief executives reckon all staff will be back by 2026.
But they feel they have to incentivise employees to return, with 87 per cent considering linking rewards, raises or promotions with office attendance.
Firms such as Ao World, Amazon, Zoom, Meta and Goldman Sachs have already ordered a return.
Healthy portion
DRUGS maker GSK wants to sell around £900million of shares in Haleon, its consumer health business which makes Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol pain pills.
The sale will reduce GSK’s stake to 10.3 per cent.
Homes collapse
THE number of new homes being built saw its steepest fall last month since the April 2009 financial crisis, construction industry figures show.
It comes after developers vowed to scale back projects as higher mortgage costs reduced demand and they do not want to build houses only to have to sell at cut-price.
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Experts say a homes shortage will limit house price falls.
The wider industry has also shrunk, with the construction purchasing managers’ index falling to 45.0 last month from 50.8 in August.
