Shareholders of French media group Vivendi have overwhelmingly, by about 75%, approved the spin-off of its record company Universal Music Group (UMG) into a separate company. As part of the plan, 60% of UMG's shares will be sold on the open market in an IPO, which is expected to take place as early as September on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. UMG is a key asset of Vivendi, bringing it about 75...

IKEA and the Rockefellers want to set up a joint fund for green investments. The founders plan to raise $10 billion this year and then increase the capital to $1 trillion, the Financial Times reports.  According to the newspaper, the founders of the fund would invest half a billion dollars each. The new fund would aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 1 billion tons and try to lift more...

Saudi Arabian oil and gas company Saudi Aramco has completed the sale of 49% in its oil pipeline business Aramco Oil Pipelines Company (AOPC) to a group of investors for $12.4 billion, the company said in a statement. "Aramco and an international consortium of investors including EIG and Mubadala announced today the successful closing of a sale and purchase agreement under which the consortium...

Video conferencing service Zoom invested in the stock market for the first time, while Salesforce is a seasoned investor in IPOs and in the venture capital market. Zoom and Salesforce each raised $11.5m in a day of trading after the IPO of Israeli cloud collaboration software maker Monday.com on the Nasdaq exchange. They invested $75 million each in the company's stock, rising to $86.5 million by...

US company Google will make changes to the handling of advertising technology on its platform as part of its commitments to France's antitrust regulator, according to a press release from the company. Earlier on Monday, the French antitrust regulator fined Google €220 million for promoting its own services in the online advertising sector. The company notes that it will work to create a...

The largest privately held medical device manufacturer in the US is to change ownership. Medline, which has become one of the most important suppliers of antiseptics, masks, wipes and even toilet paper since the pandemic began, is being bought by a consortium of investment funds for $34bn. This is the most expensive deal this year and one of the largest private equity purchases in 14 years. A...

U.S. electric car maker Tesla has filed three trademark applications that the company wants to use in restaurant services, according to a document on the website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In particular, according to the said information, at the end of May Tesla filed an application with the USPTO for the use of a logo in the form of a stylized letter "T" and two...

Etsy, the US-based online retailer of designer and handmade goods, announced that it has bought UK-based service Depop. The service specialises in the resale of clothing and is particularly popular with Generation Z. The deal is valued at $1.6 billion and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2012. Thereafter, Depop will continue to operate as a separate business with its own...

Private equity firms KKR & Co. and Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC are close to buying US software developer Cloudera, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing its own sources. According to the publication, Cloudera will become a private company once the deal is completed. The signing of the agreement may be announced this week. Details of the possible deal are not yet known. Cloudera has a...