Net-A-Porter founder leaves abruptly ahead of merger

By Astrid Wendlandt and Silvia Aloisi PARIS/MILAN (Reuters) – Natalie Massenet, founder and executive chairman of online fashion group Net-A-Porter, said on Thursday it was the right time to leave after she resigned abruptly ahead of the completion of a planned merger with Italy's Yoox. Regarded as the fashion visionary of the soon-to-be-combined business, she was to become its executive chairman and oversee editorial content, one of Net-A-Porter's main strengths

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Egypt’s Sawiris considers buy in Italy internet sector: Corriere della Sera

Naguib Sawiris is considering making an acquisition in Italy's Internet sector, the Egyptian tycoon said in an interview published on Saturday. Sawiris, whose family founded Egypt's giant Orascom group, said in an interview with Corriere della Sera that he planned to create a new data center in Milan, which would be Italy's biggest, by the end of April. “We are also weighing up another acquisition, still in the Internet sector,” said Sawiris, who made an unsuccessful bid to buy a stake in Telecom Italia in 2012

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Rocket Internet backs rental start-up looking to replace realtors

By Eric Auchard LONDON (Reuters) – German ecommerce investor Rocket Internet is backing online apartment rental firm Nestpick as the start-up expands into four European countries, aiming to connect landlords with tenants and put real estate agents out of a job. Nestpick said on Tuesday it was expanding into 14 cities in Britain, France, Italy and Spain, seeking to do for medium-term property rentals what AirBnB has done to transform the market for short-stay rentals for holiday and business travelers

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Women feel no safer in Delhi, two years after notorious gang rape

By Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – On a cold, rainy Sunday night, two policemen in khaki uniforms and fluorescent yellow jackets stand among commuters at a bus shelter in the Indian capital, occasionally stepping out to stop passing buses and climbing on board to conduct inspections. A white police car halts to check in with the men stationed at the bus stop. Some minutes after, two other constables walk past on their night patrol which they say runs from 8 p.m

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