candy

CANDY’S SWEETENER TO HELP AUDIOBOOM SIGN UP STARS

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NICK CANDY – the spouse of pop singer Holly Valance – has hit repeat on his investment in podcast platform Audioboom.

 

The property tycoon and serial tech investor is understood to have stumped up another £600,000 in a subscription to raise £1.5 million.

Sources said the firm had received the sum in its latest investment round by issuing shares at 1.3p each – a discount of around 25 per cent to Friday’s closing price of 1.75p.

The fundraising could be announced as early as tomorrow. The funds will be spent on upfront payments for new content from big-name stars, who currently include Jonathan Ross.

Candy is Audioboom’s largest shareholder with a near 20 per cent stake through his Candy Ventures vehicle.

I hear the company has lured a new shareholder – the renowned activist investor Christopher Mills of Harwood Capital.

He must see some life in the company yet after a failed £134 million merger with larger US rival Triton Digital hit the share price.

Having a vocal shareholder like Mills on board might be the kick-start Audioboom needs.

       

* BATTLE lines have been drawn between two retail heavyweights as they slug it out for high street dominance.

Peter Cowgill, boss of JD Sports, appears to have reignited his battle with bitter rival Mike Ashley by snapping up 21 per cent of Footasylum, the Aim-listed seller of trainers.

JD said the purchase was not a precursor to a full takeover, rather for ‘investment purposes’.

But City sources said the move was to stop Ashley, the deal-hungry boss of Sports Direct, from swooping on yet another retail target.

Cowgill could yet be the man to stop the self-styled ‘saviour of the high street’ in his tracks.

* SHAREHOLDERS in biotech firm Motif Bio were reminded of the perils of investing in Aim minnows this month when it lost three-quarters of its value in a day.

The plunge came when its antibiotics to treat bacterial skin infections failed to get the green light from the US Food & Drug Administration.

As if the share price fall wasn’t enough, hedge funds heaped misery on the firm by betting its shares would fall further.

Chicago-based Citadel revealed a short position and looks to have made a quick profit from the play as the company loses more value. At least there were some winners.

   

* WPP boss Mark Read hopes to draw a line under a tough first six months in charge of the advertising giant this week.

Analysts expect Read, who has been chief executive since September, to report a 1.5 per cent fall in turnover in the last quarter of 2018, compounding a tough year for the group in which founder and long-term chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell left in controversial circumstances.

Read’s early months have been plagued by a series of high-profile client losses and constant sniping from his predecessor, who remains a major shareholder. Read will be hoping his former boss keeps quiet this Friday.

Tiger Shroff Says He’s Like a Kid in a Candy Store When Shooting For Movie With Hrithik Roshan

Most have a fear that they might be overshadowed by another person’s personality, especially when they have to work together, and the fear is made worse when the person is someone they have been admiring for a long time. Such was the case with actor Tiger Shroff when he had to share screen space with his idol, actor Hrithik Roshan.

Tiger, who will be starring alongside Hrithik in Siddharth Anand’s next, has in an interview with DNA revealed that he is a big fan of the Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai star and that to work with him was a dream come true. He idolizes Hrithik so much that he becomes like a kid in a candy store when the actor is around. He even confessed to having second thoughts about taking the project.

“Hrithik sir has been a real-life superhero for me since I was a kid. When I was approached for this film and told that he would also star in it, my heart started racing. I was ecstatic that I would finally be sharing screen space with him. But at the same time, I was scared because I kept asking myself, ‘Should I be doing it at all? Is it right to go up against someone like him who’s a Demigod superstar?’ I was sure nobody will look at me,” he was quoted as saying.

“It’s been a blessing. It’s a surreal feeling on the set every day. I hope I’m not irritating him. I’m like this kid in a candy store, I keep staring at him all the time. I want to tell people and the world that I’m with him (laughs). In fact, when somebody asks me what I’m doing now, I’m extremely cool about it and say, ‘Nothing much actually. I’m just doing a film with Hrithik Roshan'(laughs),” he added.

Tiger was also asked if he and Hrithik have any common interests and how they interact on the sets of the movie.

“We have similar interests when it comes to dance, fitness or superheroes. I ask him a lot about his approach towards his career and films. I almost annoy him because no one can understand how much I have studied him. But I hope I’m not annoying him too much. In between shots, I show him his dance moves from the past and he guesses which tracks they are from,” he revealed.

The movie, which has tentatively been titled Hrithik vs Tiger and which will be produced by Yash Raj Films, will see the two pitted against one other in a dance-off.

“Right now, we haven’t thought about that. There are a lot of action scenes that we are currently shooting. We have left the songs for the end. So that will be like a celebration. We have kept that in the last schedule. But I’m already scared to match up to Hrithik sir,” Tiger added.

Meghan Markle's Baby Shower Had Flower Arranging Lessons, Cotton Candy & $225 Favors

Baby Sussex's shower was held at The Mark Hotel on Manhattan's Upper East Side, as evidenced by the many photos shot of guests strolling inside. More specifically, however, the party reportedly took place in the hotel's 10,000-square foot penthouse. According to The Mark's website, the suite includes five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a library lounge, a 12-person dining room, and access to a private rooftop terrace that offers views of Central Park and the New York City skyline. In a September 2018 article published by Bloomberg, The Mark penthouse was described as the most expensive hotel room in the United States at $75,000 a night.