Business

A pack of suitors from international sport, property and finance are this weekend exploring bids to take control of Chelsea Football Club from the Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich. Sky News has learnt that the owners of the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball (MLB) team have begun considering an offer for the West London club, and

Facebook and Instagram are blocking RT and Sputnik for users in the UK following a request by the British government. It follows a letter by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries in which she urged Meta, TikTok, and Twitter to restrict access to the Russian state-owned organisations which she accused of spreading “damaging propaganda into Britain”. “I

Microsoft has announced that it is suspending all new sales of its products and services in Russia. In a blog post on Friday, the company said: “Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and

Airbnb has said it will suspend all operations in Russia and Belarus following the invasion of neighbouring Ukraine last week. Russia currently has 90,000 active short-term rentals available on Airbnb, according to market research firm AirDNA. Brian Chesky, the company’s chief executive and founder, said earlier this week that the company would house 100,000 Ukrainians

Russia’s former deputy prime minister and a billionaire who previously held a major stake in football club Arsenal have become the latest oligarchs to be sanctioned by the UK, the Foreign Office said. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Alisher Usmanov, who owned more than 30% of Arsenal before selling up to current owner Stan Kroenke,

France has seized the vessel of Igor Sechin, a long-time ally of Vladimir Putin and the boss of Rosneft, one of the largest oil companies in Russia. The Amore Vero, an 86m luxury megayacht built in 2013, was seized by French authorities on Thursday morning in the dockyard of La Ciotat, a port on the

The cost of Brent crude oil and natural gas have surged sharply as markets eye the chance of crucial Russian supplies being cut off – either through tighter Western sanctions or by a defiant President Vladimir Putin. As UK households already fret over wide-ranging hikes to bills, with a leap of almost £700 in the

Most airlines will find the coming year “very difficult”, according to the boss of Ryanair, after the price of oil shot above $100 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.   Chief executive Michael O’Leary told Sky News that Ryanair was well prepared for higher oil prices, but said “I think it’s going to be very difficult for

British Gas owner Centrica says it is planning to cancel its contracts with Russian gas suppliers, including Gazprom, as a matter of “urgency”. The company is attempting to do this voluntarily, as it is not required to end its agreements as part of any sanctions regime – making it an outlier as other energy companies

Two Russian billionaires hit back at EU sanctions on Tuesday morning, promising to fight the “spurious and unfounded” allegations that they are both members of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven were named in a list of oligarchs sanctioned by Brussels on Monday over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The pair have

Oil titan Shell has announced that it will exit all of its joint ventures with Gazprom, an energy company controlled by the Russian state, following BP’s decision to pull out of the country yesterday. “We are shocked by the loss of life in Ukraine, which we deplore, resulting from a senseless act of military aggression

The value of Russia’s currency has plunged to an all-time low after Western nations imposed new sanctions on the country for its invasion of Ukraine. The rouble was down nearly 30% against the US dollar at one point, dropping as low as 119 per dollar in early Asian trading, passing its previous low of 90

BP is to offload its 19.75% stake in state-owned Russian oil giant Rosneft “with immediate effect” following the invasion of Ukraine. The firm’s chief executive Bernard Looney is also resigning from Rosneft’s board along with its other Rosneft director Bob Dudley, it said in a statement. The statement said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “caused us

Western allies have agreed to remove selected Russian banks from the SWIFT global financial messaging system. In a joint statement, leader of the European Union, UK, US, and Canada, said the move was in response to Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine late last week. The group said: “We stand with the Ukrainian government and

McColl’s Retail Group, one of Britain’s biggest convenience store chains, is racing to secure new funding to stave off a collapse that could put thousands of jobs at risk. Sky News has learnt that McColl’s is working with advisers on attempts to find a buyer or third parties willing to inject fresh capital into the

British Airways has suffered a major outage, causing several flights to be cancelled and leaving passengers stuck on planes after landing at Heathrow. The airline’s website and app were down for hours on Friday evening, leaving customers unable to check in online or book flights. The airline confirmed that the outage was not due to

Asian shares have rallied slightly driven by a US rebound as some analysts said the sanctions imposed by the West against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine were not as strong as markets had feared. Global share prices plummeted sharply on Thursday after Vladimir Putin unleashed a military assault on the neighbouring country. While the

After the damp squib that was the modest package of sanctions unveiled by Boris Johnson on Tuesday, this evening’s latest salvo certainly had a bit more weight. The intention to impose an asset freeze on Russian banks, including the country’s second largest lender VTB, is meaningful. VTB, along with its largest rival Sberbank, is a

Cutting Russia off from the SWIFT global payments system would be one of the toughest sanctions the West could impose. But it would also involve pain for foreign banks and other creditors that do business with the country. The system, which has its headquarters in Belgium, is used by more than 11,000 financial institutions in

The full scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia has sparked a rush for safe haven assets and sent the cost of Brent crude oil above $100 a barrel for the first time since September 2014. Fears of a wider conflict, additional sanctions and higher inflation arising from president Putin’s order to attack prompted a rush