11/04/2016 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson

Yahoo! up for sale.

The owner of the Daily Mail newspaper is considering a bid

for the struggling internet giant - but could there be rival bidders?

Live from London, that's our top story on Monday the 11th of April.

After struggling to compete with the likes of Google

and Facebook, Yahoo! has been under pressure

from shareholders to turn itself around.

Now the Daily Mail and General Trust has confirmed it's in early stage

talks to formulate a bid with private equity companies.

A little-known London investment firm is poised to save 4000 steel

Greybull Capital is in talks to buy Scunthorpe steelworks

from Tata Steel, in the first sale

And a brand-new trading week has begun in Europe, looking not so good

so far, and we will explain why. And with selfie sticks

and smartphones, do We meet the man behind

Photobox who wants us all to print our photos on cards,

mugs, T-shirts and calendars. And today we want to know,

is there a future for Yahoo!? As usual, it is a packed show, so

let's get cracking. The owner of Britain's Daily Mail

newspaper is considering a bid for the struggling US

internet company Yahoo!. The Daily Mail and General Trust

is in talks with private equity Yahoo!

is under pressure from around, and just weeks ago invited

interested parties to make an offer. So far Google and the US

telecoms firm Verizon and we now add to that list

the Daily Mail. For Yahoo!'s boss Marissa Mayer,

it's an admission she is losing her battle to turn around

the struggling tech giant. There were high

hopes when she was hired that she would revive Yahoo!

that had just churned through several bosses

in a short space of time. as one of the biggest power

players in Silicon Valley, rise to the top management

at Google. was still marred by slowing growth

and internal dissent. It's left it vulnerable

to activist investors - like shareholder Starboard Value

demanding the board be completely Windsor Holden is the Head

of Forecasting Consultancy Sally running through some of the

potential bidders. There are three names in the fray as we know it at

the moment, potentially Google, we now know the Daily Mail, and also

the Verizon. Essentially, each brings a different attraction to the

table. Part of Yahoo! Is attractive to Verizon, who purchased a AOL last

year primarily for its advertising side, so if they purchased Yahoo,

they would come under the same roof as AOL, so essentially what we have

heard is that if Verizon did make that purchase, then Tim Armstrong

would essentially head-up Yahoo and replace Marissa Mayer. The Daily

Mail again, the content and the advertising would again be very

attractive. The Daily Mail couldn't purchase Yahoo! On its own, it is

just too big. So this is where the private equity firms coming. The

content of the advertising is attractive, but really, where the

value of it comes in four other players are things like Ali Baba,

and that accounts for the vast bulk of its value. Let's touch on the

brand value. It is well known outside the US, which is where some

of this focus will be, but is this the beginning of the end Yahoo! An

Internet brand? It could be. Remember its strength as a brand, at

the height of its strength, that was ten years ago, and at that time,

Google and Yahoo! Were turning over roughly the same amount in terms of

revenues. Ten years down the line, Google has been more agile, and is

turning over 15 times the revenue of Yahoo! Now. Yahoo! Made more than $4

billion of loss last year, compared with the past 14 years when it had

made a profit. Its revenues have flat lined in the past decade, the

brand strength, while significant, is on the wane. Time is against us,

but thank you very much, Windsor Holden.

Let's have a look at some other business stories.

Japan has sought to reassure investors that it is willing

to intervene in the currency markets if needed.

The yen has gained more than 10% against the US dollar this year,

which worries the government because it hurts exports and puts

pressure on the country's already low inflation.

The statement from Japanese officials follows a recent pledge

by the G20 nations to consult on foreign exchange markets

and avoid competitive currency devaluations.

The latest figures for March show that Chinese

The consumer price index again rose by 2.3%.

Later in the week, China will report economic growth figures

Weak data would increase the likelihood of the Chinese

Tata Steel is beginning the formal process of selling its loss-making

UK plants, inviting interested bidders to submit their offers.

Today the investment firm Greybull Capital is expected

to announce a deal to buy the part of Tata Steel's business which makes

products for the construction and rail industries.

This includes the company's plant in Scunthorpe, which employs more

Let's take you to the Business Live page. There has been a lot of debate

about our banks in the wake of scandals, and today banks have been

fined for ?53 billion for their misdemeanours. All of those scandals

that have hit the banking industry over the past couple of years,

finally putting a total on it, a staggering ?53 billion. And the tax

return row continues, there is a picture that of a rather happy

looking Chancellor. That was probably not taken this

morning! The Prime Minister yesterday made

details of his tax affairs public, and we now expect the Chancellor to

do the same within the next few days, that is according to our

political editor Norman Smith. His account ats are busy!

Where the biggest ever trade delegation from Australia

It's hoping to boost trade between the two countries.

Robin Brant is in Shanghai.

A lot of money riding on this. They did this last time in 2014, an

injection into the Australian economy. According to the

government, 3.5 billion US dollars. This is a much bigger effort this

time around, representatives from 1000 Australian businesses, as you

have just referred to, some of them land today, it is a five-day effort

and they are going to eight cities, culminating in a visit from the

Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who will be in Shanghai briefly on

Thursday, and up to Beijing on Friday. The politics of the moment

between the two countries a little tricky, Turnbull has called China's

moves into the contested South China Sea islands counter-productive. But

they will set up a side and try to take the relationship between

Australia and China to the next chapter. Looking back to what their

relationship was defined by ten years ago, it was ostensibly the

Chinese buying lots of stuff on the ground in Australia, those days are

over so this mission is about trying to broaden the appeal, particularly

on tourism and education. That is where the really big push will be.

Thank you so much, Robin Brant in Shanghai for us, and you will keep

us up-to-date as the week progresses on that trade delegation. Let's look

at the markets in Asia now. Japan not doing so well, down almost half

a percent, that is about the fact that the Japanese yen is

strengthening day after day, the seventh day in a row, stronger

versus the US dollar, making all of its goods overseas more expensive to

buy. But as you can see, Hong Kong and China ended the day fairly flat,

despite that inflation news we had which we have already mentioned in

the programme. A lot of economic news coming out of China this week,

it will be very much in focus as the week progresses. Let's look at

Europe now. When we looked at them a few minutes ago, they were all

headed lower, the FTSE 100 in London and Germany and France. We are

trying to bring you the numbers if we can, but just to say, lots of

issues on the minds of investors, including lots of reports in the

press today that the IMF is poised to downgrade the global growth

forecast yet again. That is the numbers in Europe, and I will hand

you back to Ben for more detail on the winners and losers.

Thank you very much. Joining us is Brenda Kelly, Head

Analyst at London Capital Group. Let's stay with Europe. We consider

numbers behind us. -- we can see the numbers behind us. Not everyone is

happy with the interest policy. It is good news for some bad for others

when you cut interest rates. You are looking at negative interest rates

from the ECB and a dose of quantitative easing that continue

for a number of years. This is all very well when it started taking

effect in the economy, but when you have a stronger euro affecting

German exports, and the rise of the era scare as a result of the actions

of the ECB, that doesn't make the finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble,

very happy. And a strong euro is something of a problem because it

feeds into the disinflation we are seeing in Europe, and it is

affecting export competition as well. So for the time being,

everything is about currency, and I think the markets are taking their

cues for the likes of the yen, the likes of the euro, and the US

dollar, where it is always a little uncertain as to when the next move

will be from the Federal reserve. We are into a new quarter, so in terms

of market this week, what do you think will be weighing on them for

Europe? Will it become oddities again? Is it looking again ahead to

the central bank? Oil prices were dictating the strength and weakness

of the equity markets over the last quarter, and we have seen oil go

back up to almost $40 per barrel, but we haven't seen that follow

suit, so a lot will depend on what Opec say in the coming weeks over

production. Certainly China's GDP due out later this week will keep

sentiment capped, and that will be closely watched by all traders. And

a big week for China, we get obsessed about that growth number,

and whether it is true or not as well, but we will be watching it

closely. We certainly will. You will be back to talk us through the

papers a little later. Thank you. We meet the boss

of card and gift firm Photobox and find out whether in

the age of smartphones and selfie sticks, there's still life left

in the humble photo frame.You're In the UK, Tata Steel

begins the formal process of selling its loss-making plants

by inviting interested bidders Thousands of workers in England

and Wales risk losing their jobs There is still doubt over

the Port Talbot works - however the BBC understands that

a city investment firm will agree to buy Tata's Scunthorpe

plant later today. Our business editor Simon Jack

is following the story. Simon, talk us through what we know

at the moment. Clearly a crucial day for those jobs that hang in the

balance. This is a rather good news story for what has been pretty bleak

outlook for the UK steel industry. The Scunthorpe plant has been up for

sale for some time, almost a year, and we are expecting today to get

news that this deal to save that plant will be finalised, A.D. With

Greybull Capital, a little-known investment fund which specialises in

turn around failing companies. There have already been some redundancies

from about 5000 down to around 4000, and those employees left will see

some pension and salary cut. But that I think is a price worth

paying, many people think, to preserve our plant which makes

trains, rails, Network Rail gets most of its rails from this plant,

so good news in an otherwise bleak output. This is not the same as the

Port Talbot story, which was surprisingly put up for sale just

ten days ago, the fate of that still very much in the balance, but this

is a good bit of news for one bit of the Tartar steel empire. I was just

going to say that this is a very positive start to the process, and I

would imagine if everybody's morale, whether in Port Talbot or

Scunthorpe, it is important for them to have a strong beginning to the

process where other people might come in hopefully. I think that is

right. What this deal shows is there is some light at the end of the

tunnel, life beyond Tata Steel. Sajid Javid will trumpet this, the

Business Minister, saying that there are people who want to invest if you

can get the conditions right. But this plant basically makes things

called long products, half finished stuff, the Port Talbot steelworks

makes the basics lab, the real raw materials, and that is the bit that

they are going to find tough to sell, but good news today for

Scunthorpe. Simon, thank you very much. Much more on the website.

You're watching Business Live - our top story: Yahoo up for sale.

The owner of the Daily Mail newspaper confirms it's

considering a bid for the struggling US internet company.

That's alongside a potential bid for Google. We will keep an eye on this.

Call it new technology meets old - Photobox turns old memories,

from our photos and videos, into personalised products,

The company also owns Moonpig, which lets people

personalise and send greetings cards.

executive ...but the company began life in a garage in West London

Since 2006, it's grown annual revenue from $20 million to over

And has more than 1,000 employees across Europe

Stan Lauren is the Chief Executive of Photobox Group,

Thank you for coming in. Good to have you here. We have an

illustration here... You brought us a rather nice gift, I will get it

the right way. I don't know why someone would want so many pictures

of us but this is a gift you brought in and this is the sort of thing

that you do and we said it's about reading new life into photos.

Perhaps we stopped printing them down at the local shop, a packet of

24 prints, now it's about putting them on campus, T-shirts... That is

the business. That's right, it's a big industry and we are the leader,

it's all about making products that are personal, and convey a message.

You smiled when you open this... And that is what most people do when

they receive a card from one of our products. That is the business. It's

so important, with a business like this, but your experience is the

right experience and I must say, mine was not great when I dry to use

photo box to get aid look of my children's photos from my phone and

I am a bit of a technophobe anyway, I am not your best customer but it

was a difficult process and I dry and successfully used a competitor

and that is the issue with businesses like yours. You have to

attract the customer quickly and grab them and stay hold of them

because there are many other companies like yours out there that

do the same thing. Yes, we are very focused on obviously dry to make it

as simple as possible for customers to send us their photos and make a

product that is inspiring and obviously we want to make it with

the right quality and time for our customers. That is what we are

obsessed about and I am sorry we don't seem to always succeed but

when we don't we try to fix it. But in the end, what counts is the

result, as a customer. Do you get the right product with the right

photos, with the right quality that allows you to share with the people

you love, something, either at the memory of a trip or the first year

of your child... Or a party... Those are the emotions that we allow

people to share with friends and family. In that way, it's very

complimentary to four tap in social networks. People are sharing in a

broad sense, what's happening in their lives, we are more about the

emotions, memories, and so on, and we still think there is a long or a

big potential for physical products in your home, with your photos. We

touched on the fact that its old technology meets new, photo using it

in a different way, do you get frustrated with the limitations of

the process, you can do it on the website, you can print it using

high-tech methods and then you have to put it in the post, that's where

the likes of companies like Amazon supper, getting it to the house is

an age-old process. Long postage times, the cost of getting it to

someone... But that is improving their lot. You can send something

overnight quite cost efficiently, you can send something same day, at

least within London, tomorrow we are pretty sure that we will be able to

send in a few hours, but products to our customers, there is a lot of

innovation going on on the logistics and as well as upstream, in terms of

the device, helping customers make these products more user-friendly

from their mobile phone, that is a big focus. There is a lot of

improvement through that chain to make it easier for customers to buy

products. Broadly, you are spread across Europe, you are in the UK,

France, Spain and Germany, is that correct? Across 20 countries in

Europe. And also... Not so in the United States... Are you going to

try and make away into the United States or is that the market that is

too saturated and two different? No plans for that right now, 6 billion

market opportunity in Europe alone, we are leading across Europe right

now and we still think there is potential for share gains and growth

in our geographic. Time is against us but really nice to see you and

thank you for this glamorous picture of Sally and me. We will cherish

that. That will go on the wall in the green room. Really nice to see

you. Thank you. In a moment we'll take a look

through the Business Pages but first here's a quick reminder of how

to get in touch with us. As promised... We did ask you to get

get in touch with us. Do you still use Yahoo, potential buyers lining

up to take control of the business. A big response. Business like

there's asking do you use Yahoo... The 90s called, they want their

discussion topic back. That was the response. That is a valid topic but

it could be bought but keep your comments coming in. I just

remembered I have a Yahoo account, I haven't logged in for a year and

another correspondent said... Use Yahoo as my e-mail second account...

And another viewer says I use it to give to people that I don't want

e-mails from, spam e-mails... Plenty more of your comments coming in. An

interesting one, the value of Yahoo is in the network of ageing but

wealthy customers. I don't know what that says about me with my account.

But nonetheless, the boss has failed to innovate during her tenure, that

is a real challenge. How do you make users make money and stop them going

elsewhere? What other business

stories has the media been Joining us again is

Brenda Kelly, Head Analyst The Financial Times reporting that

The Royal Bank of Scotland is pulling out of India. This has been

going on for a while, it's hoping to offload in India, failing to find a

buyer, lots of regulations and restrictions preventing them from

doing it but they have decided it's cheaper to get rid rather than wait

for a buyer to come along, it has found some buyers as far as some of

its assets but it will be leaving much of its operations behind in

India and starting to focus on the bits of business making money. It's

about the bits of business that are less risky, we've seen a lot of the

big axe had to be risk averse given the clamp-down on their operations,

risky investment banking. We have seen a number of them pulling back

from ventures overseas as a result. It is necessary, they have to build

up their Tier one capital to be fronting forward and allow

themselves to be regulated and ultimately when you have that

restriction in terms of high risk financing, you are going to impact

profitability and that is the main issue of some of the banks having to

build capital and not being allowed to look down riskier avenues to

impact the margins on the upside and a low interest environment, you have

problems per shareholders. Another story... Barclays is asking staff

who is your best friend, what is this all about? Yes... This is the

new head of Barclays, and he is ultimately trying to focus on

friendship and build a better culture within the bank and he's

trying to make banking a respected profession. In your experience... Do

you have many best friends? I have plenty of best friends, imagine if

you choose a best friend on the other person does not choose you...

Nevertheless, an uphill battle for Barclays, trying to bring the

banking sector back from the brink, it has been dogged by a lot of... I

suppose its own problems and misdemeanours... Is this to stop

people working in silos, just their bed, get on with it, that is when

problems start. I suppose there is an element of that, they are

encouraging loyalty between different departments, you find it

will be difficult to do, to get the bank back to where it was. Brenda,

thank you. We are all best friends and now I have the picture to prove

that. That is all from business life. We will see you very soon.

Goodbye. Hello. A slow-moving weather front

offering outbreaks of rain to some parts of the country. Stretching

from Northern Ireland, you can see this picture, across to Wales,

southern England.