The big Silicon Valley Tech Companies had a hugely successful 2020, prompting more questions about their overwhelming dominance in financial and business terms. From san francisco, James Clayton reports. There have been winners and losers from this pandemic, and some of the biggest winners are also some of the Richest Companies in the world, based around san francisco. Take here at apple, last week, the Company Posted record Quarterly Sales of more than £80 billion. At that rate, during this 2. 5 minute news report, apple will have done 1. 5 million worth of sales. Big tech has had an astonishingly profitable pandemic. We all turned to technology more during the pandemic. Its as simple as that. We were doing more things online than ever before, from gaming to shopping, to seeing our doctor, you know, theyre not charities. Laughter you know, they are making money out of, you know, what theyre enabling. But some believe that making so much money at a time of Economic Hardship shows that
Within the business community, there is a growing chorus of voices who are realizing that theyre operating on a very unfair playing field. President biden is also reportedly considering hiring an Antitrust Tsar to look into monopolies in tech. Other senior democrats have even called for Companies Like google and facebook to be split up. Big tech has had a bumper year, but Withjoe Biden as president , theyre likely to face more and more scrutiny. Should so much power and wealth be concentrated in the hands ofjust a few companies on the west coast of america . James clayton, bbc news. A reminder of our main story this evening the news that captain sir tom moore has died at the age of 100. Hed been treated for pneumonia and had tested positive for coronavirus. Sir tom raised tens of millions of pounds for Nhs Charities by walking in his garden before his 100th birthday. In a moment, well have the news where you are, but well leave you tonight with some memories of a remarkable man. When y
Captain sir tom moore was a hero in the truest sense of the word. In the dark days of the Second World War fought for freedom and in the face of this countrys deepest post war crisis, he united us all. Well be paying tribute to sir tom who died in hospital after Testing Positive for coronavirus. Also tonight following concerns about delaying the second dose new analysis of the astrazeneca vaccine shows the first jab is effective for up to 12 weeks. Pupils in scotland are told theyll start heading back to the classroom from the end of this month. Jeff bezos, one of the worlds richest men, who created amazon, is to step down from the leading role as Chief Executive. And coming up in sport, on bbc news. A huge win for Sheffield United in the battle of the bottom two. Well bring you the latest from the premier league. Commentator absolutely priceless for Sheffield United good evening. Her majesty the queen and the Prime Minister borisjohnson have led the many tributes to captain sir tom mo
sterling family have donald sterling have any tricks up his sleeve? new calls this morning for va secretary eric shinseki to step down. top lawmakers from both parties outraged by systemic problems at va hospitals. the embattled secretary set to face president obama as soon as today. we ll have the very latest, ahead. edward snowden, patriot or liar? new e-mails reveal that the nsa leaker may not have raised concerns about u.s. surveillance programs before he exposed them to the world. welcome back to early start. i m christine romans. and i m john berman. great to see you this friday morning. it s 30 minutes past the hour. say that again? this friday morning. it s 30 minutes past the hour. and this morning, there is a deal in place to sell the los angeles clippers. a source tells cnn that former microsoft ceo steve ballmer, a very, very wealthy man, has signed a binding agreement to buy the clippers from the sterling family trust for $2 billion. that is $2 billion.
medical centers across the country. edward snowden, patriot or liar? newly released e-mails are raising questions on whether the nsa leaker raised concerns about u.s. security procedures to his bosses before exposing them to the world. two very different versions of events there. indeed. good morning, everyone. welcome to early start. i m john berman. i m christine romans. it s friday, may 30th. it s 4:00 a.m. in the east. let s begin with the donald sterling saga. could it soon be over? a source telling cnn former microsoft ceo steve ballmer has signed a binding agreement to buy the clippers for $2 billion, $2 billion. the sale was negotiated by shelly sterling, the team s co-owner, must be approved by the nba board of governors. the question now is will donald sterling give it his approval? overnight, his lawyer said no, at least for now. there is no sale, and he is not yet agreed to sign off, period.