TWITTER CO-FOUNDER BACKING IRISH FIRM - The Irish Times reports that Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has emerged as one of the investors backing Irish software start-up Intercom to the tune of $1m (€760,000).
The paper says Intercom chief executive Eoghan McCabe announced the funding from high-profile Irish and international technology investors at the 500 Startups demo day in San Francisco yesterday.
Mr Stone and Irish-born Facebook executive Paul Adams, who also participated in the investment, will join Intercom's advisory board. "Biz Stone is very excited about the product and said he would have used it if it was available when Twitter was starting up," said Mr McCabe.
Describing it as a cross between a customer relationship management (CRM) system and an instant messaging platform, Mr McCabe said Intercom allows users find out more about their customers and communicate with them more effectively.
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NIB BRANCHES WON'T BE ACCEPTING CHEQUES - The Irish Independent says a bank which stopped taking cash in 2010 will now no longer accept cheques. It says National Irish Bank wrote to thousands of its customers this week saying that, from April, it will not allow them to lodge cheques at their 28 branches nationwide.
The Danish-owned bank stopped taking cash in its branches two years ago, but it has now gone a step further. The Indo says that, "bizarrely", the bank offers customers cheque books, but won't even accept its own cheques for lodgement. At the start of 2010, it become the first cashless bank in the country.
Citing security concerns and the cost of handling cash, it told customers it would not accept cash over the counter at its branches, and instructed them to use one of the larger An Post offices to lodge and withdraw cash from their accounts.
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TWO WOMEN IN FRAME IF BBC CHIEF STEPS DOWN - The Guardian reports that the BBC's director general Mark Thompson has signalled to senior colleagues that he is ready to step down, with insiders believing he will quit at the end of 2012 or early in 2013, at the end of the broadcaster's Olympic year.
The paper says Britain's most powerful television executive has not given an exact timetable for his departure, but friends say he acknowledges that he has entered the final chapter of his eight-year director generalship and is "psychologically ready" to leave a job that paid him £779,000 last year.
Thompson, 54, took over the helm at the BBC in the wake of the resignations of Greg Dyke as director general and Gavyn Davies as chairman after stinging criticism of the corporation in Lord Hutton's report on the death of the government weapons inspector Dr David Kelly.
The Guardian says knowledge that Thompson's time is drawing to a close will trigger a succession race that could see a woman appointed to run the BBC for the first time: Caroline Thomson, chief operating officer, and Helen Boaden, head of news, are two of the three best placed internal candidates, the paper says.
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UK RETAILERS DEMAND RENT FLEXIBILITY - The Financial Times reports that UK retailers Clinton Cards, Monsoon, Accessorize and Sports Direct have taken a stand against the landlords of their shops, demanding the right to pay rents on a monthly rather than quarterly basis to ease cash flow pressures.
The FT says the retailers, who occupy 1,600 UK stores between them, are frustrated with the current system, which requires tenants to pay three months' rent in advance, four times a year.
The paper says their demands for more flexible payment options come at a time when high street chains including Peacocks and Barratts Priceless have gone into administration and retailers are battling to cut costs as consumers trim spending.
Darcy Willson-Rymer, chief executive of Clinton Cards, said half of its landlords had agreed to let the 800-store greeting cards chain move to monthly rents.
