News round up: Thomas Cook, Microsoft, EasyJet, Tullow Oil, City Banks, Oil price.

Struggling travel firm Thomas Cook Group plc (LON:TCG) is closing one of its regional offices with hundreds of jobs likely to go. The firm said the office in Bradford, West Yorkshire, employs 537 people but stressed some roles will be relocated to other offices.

Unions said the move was a scandal and blamed the job losses on former chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa, saying their members "are going to pay the price of that mismanagement with their jobs".

In a statement, Ian Ailles, chief executive Mainstream at Thomas Cook UK & Ireland, said, "As part of the previously announced UK turnaround, we have regrettably today advised colleagues in our Bradford office that we're proposing to close it by March next year, relocating some roles to our other UK sites in Birkenshaw (near Bradford), Peterborough and Falkirk," writes the Independent.

Microsoft

Microsoft is in talks to buy a leading social network for companies for more than $1bn, according to reports. A deal for Yammer could be sealed as soon as today, Bloomberg reported, citing unidentified sources. Microsoft already owns a range of business products, and adding Yammer would step up the rivalry with Salesforce.com, which landed social-marketing tools when it paid $745m purchase for Buddy Media earlier this month.

Oracle also recently bought two companies that analyze data on social-media sites - Vitrue and Collective Intellect. Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Microsoft, declined to comment to Bloomberg on a potential deal. Deanna McPherson, a spokeswoman for Yammer, also declined to comment, The Telegraph comments.

EasyJet

Africa is to get its own version of easyJet this summer after a deal was signed to launch a low-cost, pan-continental airline with fares starting from $20. The airline, Fastjet, will be listed on the London Stock Exchange. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, has been talking for months to Lonrho, the pan-African trading company.

Yesterday the groups confirmed that they are to meld Lonrho’s fledgeling squadron of propeller-driven, 50-seat passenger aircraft into a business plan to fly a fleet of 150-seat Airbus or Boeing planes that match European aviation standards. The credibility of the venture has been boosted with the hiring of Ed Winter, a former chief operating officer of easyJet, to be chief executive, The Times says.

Tullow Oil

France’s newly elected Government has abruptly suspended licences to drill for oil off the coast of French Guiana in a potentially shattering blow for Shell and Tullow Oil. An exploration well less than 160km (100 miles) off the South American colony struck a hydrocarbon deposit at a first attempt in September, sparking excitement about prospects for as much as $80bn (£51bn) in oil.

The find raised the possibility that the tiny tropical territory of fewer than 200,000 people could become a big player in global energy. Shell, Tullow Oil, Total, Wessex Exploration and Northern Petroleum jointly own the drilling project and had expected authorisation to continue, The Times reports.

City banks

George Osborne is set to unveil an historic overhaul of Britain's largest banks that will force them to separate their retail and investment banking operations and prevent problems at City banks "spilling onto high streets". In a Mansion House speech tonight, the Chancellor will hail the government's publication of a White Paper on banking as a move towards "fundamentally reforming" the industry.

Mr Osborne will say the government has resisted industry lobbying efforts and will push ahead with measures to require banks to ring-fence their retail operations from their investment banking arms, The Telegraph writes.

Oil price

The oil price could almost halve later this year if the crisis in the Eurozone escalates, Credit Suisse believes. “Brent oil prices would again hit $50 (£32) a barrel” in a worst-case scenario, according to analysts Jan Stuart and Stefan Revielle. "Oil demand would deflate sharply following acute crises of confidence."

The analysts said that all potential negative scenarios involved Europe "to some degree" with the starting point of collapse coming over the summer. However, Brent crude rose $1.06 to $98.20 yesterday after the US Energy Department said the country’s stockpiles had seen a surprise fall of 191,000 barrels to 384.4m barrels last week, according to The Telegraph.