THE DAILY BRIEFING
■ AD TIE-UP Advertising group WPP is merging American agencies J Walter Thompson (JWT) and Wunderman into one business.
As part of a major shake-up under boss Mark Read, the group said the firms would be known as Wunderman Thompson, with clients including Adobe, Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce.
The move brings an end to the JWT brand, which traces its roots back to an agency founded in New York more than 150 years ago.
Shares in WPP yesterday rose 3.1pc, or 26.4p, to 879p.
■ CASH BOOST Savings app Chip has raised £4m on Crowdcube, a platform which allows investors to put their money directly into startup companies.
■ VALUE CRASH Mongolian-focused oil and gas explorer Petro
Matad lost almost half of its value on the London market yesterday after it failed to find oil in one of its wells. Shares fell 47pc, or 2.4p, to 2.7p.
■ BOOM LOSS British podcasting firm Audioboom revealed its shows were downloaded more than 2m times in October, but it still expects to post a loss for the full year.
■ MINE SALE Miner Rio Tinto has agreed to sell its controlling stake in a Namibian uranium mine to statesponsored company China National Uranium Corp for up to £83m. It is selling its entire 69pc stake in Rossing Uranium, which owns the mine, for an initial sum of £5m.
■ PILOT DEAL London-listed Seeing Machines, which creates transport safety systems that can ‘ see’ and analyse danger, has signed a contract with the Royal Australian Air Force to track pilots’ eye and face movements when they are training in flight simulators.
■ BANK RAISE Digital bank Monzo has revealed plans to raise £20m from its customers.
They will be able to invest up to £2,000 in Monzo each, through either Crowdcube or the bank’s smartphone app. It comes after Monzo raised £1m through crowdfunding in just 96 seconds two years ago.
■ FUND GRAB Healthcare company Fluidic Analytics has grabbed £24m in a funding round led by London-listed investor Draper Esprit.
■ REGULATOR WARNING Online payments firm PayPal’s £1.7bn takeover of Swedish rival iZettle could lead to higher prices or reduce the quality of services available to customers, the Competition and Markets Authority has warned.