BP made a profit of $12.8billion (£9.5billion) in 2021, its highest in eight years, as natural gas and oil prices soared and the global economy recovered from the pandemic slump.
The oil giant’s underlying replacement cost profit – BP’s definition of net earnings – reached $4.1billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $3.93billion.
Cybersecurity firms NortonLifeLock and Avast expect their $6.2billion tie-up to go ahead as expected after the German anti-trust authority and UK ministers gave their approval to the deal.
However, the deal still requires the regulatory approval from the anti-trust authorities of the UK, Spain and the US in order to go ahead.
Tesla owned nearly £1.5billion in bitcoin at the end of last year, making it one of the world’s biggest investors in the digital currency.
The electric car maker initially invested in bitcoin in the first quarter of 2021. At the time, Tesla’s boss Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, said the company would accept the cryptocurrency as payment.
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Chief executive Bernard Looney said: ‘2021 shows BP doing what we said we would – performing while transforming.’
