Friday newspaper round-up: BuzzFeed, office return, NS&I
The UK’s largest business lobby group has joined the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the human rights watchdog in calling for mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting, saying data collection will help tackle racial inequalities at work. In a letter to the Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), TUC and Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the move would help draw attention to pay disparities and a lack of minority representation across senior positions, and hopefully spark action by employers. - Guardian
BuzzFeed, the news, digital media and lifestyle company, has announced plans to become a publicly traded company through a special purpose acquisition company (Spac) that could value the 15-year-old New York-based firm at $1.5bn. The company, initially known for listicles and online quizzes, also announced plans to buy Complex Networks, a global youth network that engages with millennials and Gen Z, from phone giant Verizon and publisher Hearst for $300m. - Guardian
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened a probe into Amazon and Google because of worries the companies might not have been sufficiently clamping down on fake online reviews. The CMA said it plans to look into whether the firms broke consumer law by not doing enough to protect shoppers. - Telegraph
Britain’s business leaders are in good heart, proud of their record during the worst of the pandemic, delighted by the economic bounce of the past few months — but starting to be unsettled by skills shortages and inflationary pressures. At least those were the conclusions to take from the bosses who gathered virtually and in person for The Times CEO Summit yesterday. - The Times
National Savings & Investments has abandoned moves to stop sending Premium Bond prizes by cheque after opposition from thousands of customers. The Treasury-backed bank has scrapped an earlier plan to force bondholders to register their bank details in order to receive prizes into their bank accounts. Its customers have been receiving prizes by cheque since 1964. - The Times