Friday newspaper round-up: Facebook, sharing economy, BHS

Media companies publishing to Facebook are reaching 42 per cent fewer people with each story since January, a new report claims, putting pressure on the social network to explain how it has changed its algorithm. Stories posted to Facebook reached an average of 68,000 users in May, down from about 117,000 in January, according to SocialFlow, a platform used by publishers to post half a million stories to Facebook and other social media sites each month. – Financial Times

A gender pay gap is emerging in the amount of pocket money UK parents give their children. Even at the tender age of under 15, it seems boys receive significantly more than girls — and, like their dads at work, are more insistent in asking for more. Parents are forking out an average £6.55 per week to children, according to the annual Halifax pocket money survey, the highest level recorded since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007. – Financial Times

The European commission has thrown its weight behind the so-called sharing economy typified by firms such as Uber and Airbnb, saying countries should only ban them as a last resort. The growth of the sharing economy – defined as businesses that help ordinary people offer services to the public – has caused tension in several European countries over claims that existing industries are being damaged. – Guardian

Economists campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union have accused the Treasury and international institutions of “groupthink” in a report that says growth would be boosted if all trade barriers were removed after a leave vote in this month’s referendum. The group Economists for Brexit (EfB) said consumers and businesses would benefit from lower prices once EU-imposed tariffs were removed and dismissed predictions that the UK would be plunged into immediate recession if the remain campaign lost on 23 June. – Guardian

As a boy, British Home Stores was one of those shops I was dragged into with little willingness on my part. If I had to be shopping, I would rather have been across the road in the Early Learning Centre, or up the street sitting on the floor in Waterstones surrounded by stacks of books. Instead I was, on a Saturday afternoon, more often than not to be found wandering around the shelves of the Preston branch of British Home Stores, following my mum as she assessed the quality of the towels or questioned the style of the lampshades. – Telegraph

Tata Steel is close to reaching a deal to keep its Port Talbot plant open after being offered a sweetener by the government. The Indian company was last night discussing the offer of a huge loan after an apparent change of heart by ministers anxious to avoid thousands of British job losses. – The Times

Hundreds of former City Link employees will share an award totalling more than £1 million after winning an employment tribunal claim against the collapsed courier company. In a stinging indictment of Better Capital, the former owner of City Link, and the former management team, the employment tribunal in Leeds has ruled that the company made a “deliberate and calculated decision” not to inform staff properly about potential redundancies. – The Times