News Corporation, the media group headed by Rupert Murdoch, confirmed this morning that it had made an offer to take full control of BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster in which it has a 39 per cent stake.

China is considering a wealth tax on homeowners as it grasps at new weapons to halt a frantic rise in property prices that many fear poses the biggest threat to the Chinese economy.

It is a dilemma familiar to anyone still clinging to analogue radios or cathode-ray televisions: pay to go digital or wait until prices drop?

Traditional media, from television to newspapers, is pinning its hopes for a recovery in advertising on mobile devices such as the iPad and on the spread of high-speed broadband.

Clive Cowdery appears to have confounded the sceptics once again.

Banks are making hundreds of millions of pounds a year and pushing up prices on the high street by levying “unjustifiably high” fees on credit and debit card sales, retailers will say today.

Dana Petroleum paid £270 million for PetroCanada Netherlands yesterday, it’s biggest-ever acquisition.

With titles such as Command and Conquer and Resident Evil, Virgin was regarded as one of the cooler geeks in computer games during the 1990s.

The economy, more damaged by the banking crisis than previously admitted, will grow more weakly and may never fully recover, the new Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said yesterday.

Clive Cowdery’s Resolution is close to securing a ground-breaking deal to slash investment bank underwriting fees on a rights issue to fund a £2.75 billion acquisition of Axa’s UK life business.

Sir Fred Goodwin has been summoned by the Financial Services Authority to answer questions about Royal Bank of Scotland’s management in the run up to its near-collapse in October 2008.

Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue trader accused of losing almost €5 billion, was denounced by a former boss as criminal, dishonest, disloyal and a cheat at his trial in Paris yesterday.

The crisis surrounding Vantis, the AIM-listed accountancy firm, deepened today as the group asked for trading in its shares to be suspended amid doubts over its ability to survive.

Q&A: what is the Office for Budgetary Responsibility? LIVE: question to the experts on inflation

Read how BP managers face years in jail and how America snubbed British offer of help with spill at The Times's new website

Transport for London will abandon its plans to move into the Shard at London Bridge after a deal that allows the skyscraper’s owners to find tenants willing to pay a much higher rent.

Investors have given the thumbs up to the biggest rights issue by a British utility.

Resolution, the insurance buyout vehicle, detailed its plans today to acquire the majority of AXA's £2.75 billion life assurance division.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, has given official backing to recommendations that call for investment banks to be broken up.

THE chief executive of a London-listed oil explorer pocketed a $1.9m ($£1.3m) bonus last year despite recording a $96m annual loss that led its accountants to raise concerns about the firm$’s solvency.

THE Lloyds Banking Group is working on plans for a stock-market flotation of the chain of 600 branches it is being forced to sell by the European Commission.

AMERICAN regulators are planning to investigate Apple’s business practices to see if it is harming the developing market for software that runs on mobile phones and the iPad, its latest hit device.

DAVID REID has pledged to stay on as chairman of Tesco for at least another 18 months to maintain boardroom stability at Britain’s biggest retailer, insiders say.

THE £4 billion auction of Britain’s biggest electricity distribution network could be delayed by a dispute over how to fill a hole of £100m or more in its pension fund.

MINISTERS have asked train companies for ideas to cut the cost of running the railways — and have told them they can keep half the savings. The idea is to give the firms an incentive to agree to changes in their contracts.