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Parliamentary Monitoring Services is a United Kingdom-based political research and publishing company. The company researches the activities of the United States Congress, European Parliament, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Consultants to the company have included British politicians Sir Peter Fry and William Howie, Baron Howie of Troon. The company published PMS Guide to Pressure Groups and PMS Guide to the 1997 General Election.

The company has been hired to undertake political research work by The Sunday Times and The Royal British Legion. In 2006, the company and its sister company Political Wizard were sold to Dods Parliamentary Communications, a subsidiary of Dods (Group) PLC—formerly Huveaux PLC. Colin Doeg, author of Crisis Management in the Food and Drinks Industry, characterized the company as a "comprehensive service". The Independent described it as a "well-known political lobbying firm". (Full article...)

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A corporate group, company group or business group, also formally known as a group of companies, is a collection of parent and subsidiary corporations that function as a single economic entity through a common source of control. These types of groups are often managed by an account manager. The concept of a group is frequently used in tax law, accounting and (less frequently) company law to attribute the rights and duties of one member of the group to another or the whole. If the corporations are engaged in entirely different businesses, the group is called a conglomerate. The forming of corporate groups usually involves consolidation via mergers and acquisitions, although the group concept focuses on the instances in which the merged and acquired corporate entities remain in existence rather than the instances in which they are dissolved by the parent. The group may be owned by a holding company which may have no actual operations.

In Germany, where a sophisticated law of the "concern" has been developed, the law of corporate groups is a fundamental aspect of its corporate law. Many other European jurisdictions also have a similar approach, while Commonwealth countries and the United States adhere to a formalistic doctrine that refuses to "pierce the corporate veil": corporations are treated outside tax and accounting as wholly separate legal entities. (Full article...)

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Microsoft is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions. Established on April 4, 1975 to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. Microsoft would also come to dominate the office suite market with Microsoft Office. The company has diversified in recent years into the video game industry with the Xbox, the Xbox 360, the Xbox One, and the Xbox Series X as well as into the consumer electronics and digital services market with Zune, MSN and the Windows Phone OS.

The company's initial public offering was held on March 14, 1986. The stock, which eventually closed at $27.75 a share, peaked at $29.25 a share shortly after the market opened for trading. After the offering, Microsoft had a market capitalization of $519.777 million. Microsoft has subsequently acquired over 225 companies, purchased stakes in 64 companies, and made 25 divestments. Of the companies that Microsoft has acquired, 107 were based in the United States. Microsoft has not released financial details for most of these mergers and acquisitions. (Full article...)

Uber Technologies, Inc., commonly referred to as Uber, is an American multinational transportation company that provides ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and operates in approximately 70 countries and 10,500 cities worldwide. It is the largest ridesharing company worldwide with over 150 million monthly active users and 6 million active drivers and couriers. It facilitates an average of 28 million trips per day and has facilitated 47 billion trips since its inception in 2010. In 2023, the company had a take rate (revenue as a percentage of gross bookings) of 28.7% for mobility services and 18.3% for food delivery.

Uber classifies its drivers as gig workers or independent contractors, a practice that has drawn criticism and legal challenges because it allows the company to withhold worker protections that it would have been required to provide to employees. Studies have shown that, especially in cities where it competes with public transport, Uber contributes to traffic congestion, reduces public transport use, has no substantial impact on vehicle ownership, and increases automobile dependency. Other controversies involving Uber include various unethical practices such as aggressive lobbying and ignoring and evading local regulations, many of which were revealed by a leak of documents showing controversial activity between 2013 and 2017 under the leadership of Travis Kalanick. (Full article...)

• ...that the Moonlight Brewing Company sells its product only in kegs because the brewmaster believes the process of bottling beer "is cruel for the beer and a logistical nightmare"?
• ... that the Norwegian manufacturing company Thune, started in 1815 as a blacksmith's workshop, later expanded to build agricultural machinery, turbines and locomotives?
• ... that the documentary series Bertie and Haughey on the lives of former taoisigh Bertie Ahern and Charles Haughey were made by Mint Productions?
• ... that Hanwei Group is the biggest producer of eggs in the People's Republic of China?
• ... that IMS Associates, Inc. became one of the earliest successful personal computing companies, before going bankrupt in 1979 after just six years?
• ... that the liberal film company Brave New Films has produced full-length videos and paper advertisements in addition to the viral videos for which it is known?

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