Threat to UK jobs as set-top box maker Pace is sold to US rival Arris in £1.4bn deal
Apprentice host: Lord Alan Sugar
With Lord Alan Sugar and Richard Desmond on the board, meetings were never going to be dull.
The collaboration between the pair – along with the BBC, ITV and TalkTalk – led to the release of one of the most widely-used TV set-top boxes in Britain: YouView.
The latest drama in the UK’s set-top box history came this week with a £1.4billion deal to sell Pace to US rival Arris.
Pace’s shares rose 35 per cent to 447p – slightly higher than the 426.5p offered by its rival.
Its best-known product in Britain was BT’s Vision boxes, though these are being gradually phased out following the introduction of YouView.
YouView’s 2012 launch marked the latest chapter in the colourful TV technology history in the UK.
But for the bearded Apprentice host, it was not his first foray into the world.
In 2007 he sold Amstrad, the remnants of the business that Sugar started from the back of a van in 1968, to Sky for £125million. The pay-TV giant now uses that technology to make its own TV boxes.
BT’s YouView sets are made by South Korean firm Humax, while TalkTalk’s boxes are made by Chinese competitor Huawei. EE, which decided not to use YouView and launched its own box last year, uses French firm Netgem.
But despite losing its grip on the UK’s market, Pace still has 500 employees and all of its research and development in Britain.
It also boasts overseas customers including Sky Italia and US giant AT&T, and it also sells to Liberty Global, the owners of Virgin Media.
Pace was founded in 1982, listed in 1996, and in 2012 the number of boxes it had sold passed the 100million mark.
Arris, which is moving its domicile to Britain in an effort to slash its international tax bill in a controversial ‘inversion’, refuses to say how many UK staff it employs – though it only has one office in Britain, just outside Reading.
It has also refused to commit to keeping research and development in the UK.
Pace’s remaining UK staff will therefore be hoping that, after the deal closes, they do not have to hear the dreaded words that Sugar is most famous for uttering.
Most watched Money videos
- The new Volkswagen Passat - a long range PHEV that's only available as an estate
- Paul McCartney's psychedelic Wings 1972 double-decker tour bus
- BMW's Vision Neue Klasse X unveils its sports activity vehicle future
- MG unveils new MG3 - Britain's cheapest full-hybrid car
- German car giant BMW has released the X2 and it has gone electric!
- Mini unveil an electrified version of their popular Countryman
- Steve McQueen featured driving famous stunt car in 'The Hunter'
- Skoda reveals Skoda Epiq as part of an all-electric car portfolio
- How to invest to beat tax raids and make more of your money
- BMW meets Swarovski and releases BMW i7 Crystal Headlights Iconic Glow
- 'Now even better': Nissan Qashqai gets a facelift for 2024 version
- Iconic Dodge Charger goes electric as company unveils its Daytona
- Sainsbury's enjoys food sales boost months after...
- BHP swoops on rival Anglo American in £31bn mining megadeal
- Car insurers to make pay monthly cheaper and fairer after...
- BUSINESS LIVE: Barclays profits slip; Sainsbury's ups...
- Meta announces it is to plough billions into artificial...
- MARKET REPORT: Reckitt cleans up but Footsie gives up gains
- Tesla shares rocket after pledge to bring forward launch...
- Boeing burns through £1bn a month to contain 737 safety...
- Ten stocks to invest in NOW to profit from Rishi's...
- Unilever sales jump as consumer giant eases price hikes
- Schroders boss Peter Harrison to retire in 2025 after...
- Windfall tax is driving UK oil and gas producers to...
- Lloyds cheers green shoots in housing market - but takes...
- WH Smith shares 'more for patient money than fast bucks',...
- Tory windfall tax war 'is killing off North Sea oil'......
- Investors to vote on plans to double London Stock...
- Barclays profits hit by subdued mortgage lending and...
- AstraZeneca lifted by blockbuster oncology drug sales