Peacock meanwhile enjoyed a successful flotation last year although the shares subsequently have
Posted in General on 22. Aug, 2010
Peacock, meanwhile, enjoyed a successful flotation last year, although the shares subsequently have failed to hold on to their early gains.By contrast, M&S shares have lost about two-thirds of their stock market value in the last three years.. The days of standing for hours in the rain to view a few waxwork dummies may be close to an end. A British company, due to join the Ofex market later this month, has come up with a device that will queue electronically for you. The days of standing for hours in the rain to view a few waxwork dummies may be close to an end.
A British company, due to join the Ofex market later this month, has come up with a device that will queue electronically for you.
Lo-Q has already devised a system to avoid queues at Thorpe Park, the theme park in Surrey. There you are given an electronic bleeper that you carry around with you to various rides. It logs your interest in going on the attraction and tells you how long the wait is.You then go to other parts of the theme park until your time comes, and then you present the bleeper and you are let on to the ride.The company’s innovation has been recognised – first by the Design Council, which gave it Millennium Product status, and more recently by a US attractions group that has bought the system for its chain of parks in the southern states.Leonard Sim, the founder and managing director, invented the Lo-Q system after a bad experience at Universal Studios in Florida, when he and his family waited two hours for a ride that was cancelled. He says he is now working on a new system that can be used at what he calls “the biggest theme park in the world” – London. With new WAP technology, mobile phones can act like the bleepers at Thorpe Park.”You don’t want to queue for two and a half hours outside Madame Tussaud’s when you could be off seeing the Tate Modern or Buckingham Palace,” he says.The company is raising £2.2m through a placing on Ofex sponsored by broker Daniel Stewart..
Ray Lane, the former president of US software giant Oracle Corporation, resigned because he could no longer work with the company’s enigmatic boss Larry Ellison. Ray Lane, the former president of US software giant Oracle Corporation, resigned because he could no longer work with the company’s enigmatic boss Larry Ellison.
Speaking for the first time since his shock resignation from one of the highest-profile jobs in business, Mr Lane has revealed that his departure two weeks ago was triggered by Mr Ellison’s insistence on making virtually all the decisions.”I can’t fit into this kind of system. I’ve got to be one of the guys making decisions, and the only person making decisions at Oracle is Larry,” he said.Mr Lane added that his dissatisfaction at the way Mr Ellison was running Oracle started in February 1999 “He wanted to focus on the whole company. He felt he had to make every decision whether it was human resources or what computer to buy,” Mr Lane said in an interview with CNET, an online technology news service.The news will end speculation that Mr Lane’s resignation on 30 June was over the revelation that Oracle had employed a private security firm to dig up dirt on rival Microsoft.Mr Lane said he offered to resign in April, but Mr Ellison rejected it saying the pair “needed to communicate more”.But tension between the two gradually intensified. While Mr Lane was on holiday in Oregon he received a phone call from Mr Ellison which ended his eight-year career at Oracle.”Changes were going to be made under Larry’s game plan, and I disagreed with them.
I told him it seemed like it was time for me to go, and he agreed. I think he called with the intent of me pulling the plug,” Mr Lane said.With an estimated 12 million Oracle shares worth nearly $1bn (£665m), Mr Lane is considering joining a venture capital firm. The position of president at Oracle remains vacant, but it is understood Oracle executive presidents Gary Bloom or George Roberts are contenders.Mr Lane and Mr Ellison formed an unlikely partnership but one which many observers say helped to turn Oracle into one of the world’s most successful companies.Mr Ellison was the flamboyant one with a penchant for collecting yachts, cars and fighter jets Mr Lane was the more sober part of the partnership. Mr Ellison’s grip tightened on the company when it moved into developing software for the internet – something he still enthuses about..