Tuesday newspaper round-up: House prices, accounting firms, Google, Zuckerberg
House prices will stagnate in 2019 and the number of sales fall as a mixture of Brexit and affordability constraints takes its toll on the property market, according to Britain’s surveyors and valuers. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said it expected the number of house sales to fall back by 5% to around 1.15m compared with 2018. The number of sales will remain sharply below the 1.7m that changed hands in the peak year of 2006. – Guardian
The big four accounting groups, KPMG, Deloitte, PwC and EY, have escaped the threat of a breakup after the competition regulator stopped short of calling for radical action against them. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) proposed instead that audits of the UK’s biggest companies, listed on the FTSE 350, should be carried out by at least two firms, one of which should be from outside the big four. The proposals came as an independent review called for the abolition of the accounting industry’s “weak” regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), amid accusations that it has been too cosy with firms it is meant to regulate. – Guardian
Google has all but shut down plans to launch a censored search engine in China following months of criticism over the secretive project, according to reports. The company has blocked access to an internal system it was using to build the proposed search engine, a move that effectively renders the “Dragonfly” project closed, according to investigative news website The Intercept. – Telegraph
Mark Zuckerberg is on track to end the year $16bn (£13bn) poorer than he was when it began, after Facebook's toughest year to date sent shares in the company plunging. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Mr Zuckerberg's net worth currently stands at $57bn. That still makes him the sixth richest person in the world, but Mr Zuckerberg began the year with a net worth of $73bn. By the middle of July, his fortune had swelled to $82bn. – Telegraph
Malaysia has brought criminal charges against Goldman Sachs for allegedly paying bribes and colluding in the theft of billions of dollars in a scheme said to have been masterminded by the country’s previous prime minister. Three subsidiaries of the investment bank, including its British operation, and two former employees are accused of misappropriating $2.7 billion, bribing officials and lying to investors. The alleged crimes arose from a series of sales of government bonds organised by Goldman for the government of Najib Razak. – The Times
The boss of British Gas has quit Britain’s biggest energy supplier after less than four years to return to the insurance industry. Mark Hodges, 53, chief executive of Centrica’s consumer division, will leave at the end of February to lead Reassure, Swiss Re’s closed book business, before its planned stock market listing. Sarwjit Sambhi, 49, managing director of the UK Home division, will be promoted to lead the entire Centrica consumer division, which also includes Direct Energy, the North American supply business. – The Times