It's time to look outside at other entrepreneurial opportunities," he said. He ruled out making a fresh start in another travel business - something lastminute's former finance director, David Howell, has done - but said he was "wedded" to internet-based ventures.Mr Hoberman launched lastminute, which he dreamt up with Martha Lane Fox, on April Fool's Day 1998 when he was 29. Less than a year after selling out to Travelocity, which is part of the US giant Sabre Holdings, Mr Hoberman is handing control of lastminute to its chief operating officer, Ian McCaig. At the time, Mr Hoberman promised to stay on as chief executive for at least three years but said yesterday: "People change their minds."Giving up the day job will leave him free to plough the £26m he pocketed from the deal into other business ventures. Brent Hoberman, one of the original dot wunderkinder, is throwing in the towel at lastminute , the travel company he cofounded eight years ago. The scheme is well-managed and assets have grown very strongly in recent years."The group said it would give a more detailed breakdown of its pensions liabilities in the summer, once the Pensions Regulator had published its final rules for scheme funding.Sir Tim Chessells, chairman of the pension fund trustees, said it was important that the group understood how the Guarantee interacted with the new laws before it published its detailed analysis of the fund.. The existing Guarantee, which applies only on a winding up of the company, represents an added reinforcement to the company's covenant and an extra layer of security for BT's pensioners. However, an improvement in equity markets over the past year, along with a series of capital injections into the scheme, have helped reduce the gross deficit to around £2.5bn, the group said yesterday.If BT is correct in its estimate of the Crown Guarantee, then BT's true deficit would be just £625m, or £450m net of tax.Hermes, which manages BT's pension scheme, has more than 60 per cent of the fund invested in equities - a much larger proportion than most funds, which have switched over to lower risk securities in recent years.Commenting on the announcement yesterday, the company's chairman, Sir Christopher Bland, said: "BT stands fully behind its pension promise to pensioners and members.
The agreement vows to back the pensions of all those who were members of the scheme before 6 August 1984 in the event of the company becoming insolvent.Last year, BT revealed that its pension deficit was £4.7bn - the highest of any company in the UK. Shares in the company rose more than 2 per cent in a falling market on the back of the news, as investors raised their hopes that the group may now become a more viable takeover target. The telecoms giant said it hoped to reduce the amount it pays into the Pensions Protection Fund as a result of its "Crown Guarantee", which was awarded to the company when the Government privatised the business in 1984. BT's once-mammoth pension deficit could now be as small as £450m, the company revealed yesterday, claiming that a 20-year-old agreement with the Government guaranteed around three-quarters of its fund. But it was careful not to reject the offer outright, promising to "always give proper consideration to any proposal that might enhance value for shareholders".Mr Waterstone launched an attack on the Waterstone's management and claimed the chain had lost market share "It really depresses me that it has seriously lost its way It is not being well run and its results are truly awful It needs to get back to .. being the best bookseller in the world.". He is keen to act before HMV tables a fresh offer for Ottakar's, which it will be free to do once the Competition Commission has published its full report on the proposed deal.In a statement issued after the market shut, HMV said it had "yet to receive a formal proposal".
Waterstone's makes about one-quarter of HMV's total profits so Mr Waterstone's proposal would not be considered especially ungenerous. He stopped short of describing his move as "hostile", but said he was appealing to HMV's shareholders because he had not heard from the music group since contacting them about a bid in February. Shares in HMV rose 6.75p to 178p, while Ottakar's dropped 6.5p to 340.5p."We are laying our cards on the table and saying 'please, let's deal'," Mr Waterstone said. Lazard European Private Equity Partners is backing the offer and has lined up bank finance. WH Smith is also thought to be circling Ottakar's, which is the smallest of the national book chains. Mr Waterstone has teamed up with Anthony Forbes Watson, who used to run Penguin UK, to make his offer, which is worth up to 70p a share.