Microsoft Grabs Github for $7.5bn

Github is used by more than 28 million developers representing 1.8m organizations. The purchase price values each user at just under $270 each. The business will now be led by Nat Friedman, founder of Xamarin, another Microsoft (2016) acquisition.

Israel Investing $275m in Digital Health

Israel has approved a plan to spend 1 billion shekels ($275m) to digitize health records for its 9 million citizens to aid in drug discovery in partnership with SAP.

Shared Workspace Provider WeWork in Expansion Drive

WeWork, a provider of co-working and office space, is looking to expand, having recently taken over its Chinese rival, Naked Hub (founded in China in 2007) for an estimated $400m. WeWork's co-working spaces provide fast Internet, 24/7 building access, daily cleaning, mail handling, printers and more. SoftBank reportedly invested $300m in WeWork in March 2017; by August 2017 this was reported as $4.4bn investment from SoftBank and its related Vision Fund which includes other investors. $1.4bn was earmarked for expansion in China, Japan and Southeast Asia. WeWork's CEO Adam Neumann articulated the company's vision as attempting to "humanize" the way people work.

Spotify Readies for $20bn Listing under Ticker SPOT

Founder Daniel Ek comments, and expresses his intent to "build, plan and imagine for the long term". Swedish start-up Spotify had 71m subscribers in 2017 a number that is expected to be higher in 2018.

Facebook WhatsApp Data Sharing Plan Blocked

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is coming into force in May. 

Facebook is currently not compliant and the UK Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, has prohibited data sharing, forcing Facebook to put a priority on achieving GPDR compliance.

The ICO's French equivalent is in the process of conducting similar action.

So far the ICO's largest fine was the penalty of £400,000 on TalkTalk for failing to protect customer data from cyber attack.

Unilever Selects Legal Base of Rotterdam over London

Historically and inherently Anglo-Dutch, Unilever was formed from the merger of Dutch Margarine Unie and British soap maker Lever Brothers in 1930. Unilever is now looking to simplify its corporate structure and base its legal headquarters in Rotterdam, following a review of its dual-head structure triggered in 2017 by a $143bn takeover attempt by Kraft Heinz. Chief Executive Paul Polman said "This is not about Brexit".

IP Week set to start in London on Tuesday 20 February 2018

IP Week is set to start in London at the InterContinental Park Lane. Talks will be given by engineer and SMU (Dallas) MBA Bob Dudley, Group Chief Executive of BP (who succeeded Tony Hayward in October 2010), HE Suhail Al Mazrouei, the UAE Minister of Energy and Industry and Shell CFO Jessica Uhl (UCB and Insead). IP Week is hosted by the Energy Institute.