The 10 biggest business stories on Friday January 29

James Murdoch is to return as the chariman of Sky, Amazon shares slide after profits miss expectations, Bank of Japan unexpectedly cuts interest Rate into negative territory

Governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) Haruhiko Kuroda answers a question during his regular press conference in Tokyo on January 29, 2016. The BoJ shocked markets on January 29 after it unveiled plans to effectively charge lenders to park their cash with it, ramping up its long-running battle to kickstart the world's number three economy. (TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images)

1. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has just stunned financial markets, taking official interest rates into negative territory. The bank announced that it will charge an interest rate of -0.1 per cent for excess reserves parked at the bank by financial institutions.

2. James Murdoch is to return as the chairman of Sky four years after a phone-hacking scandal forced him out, regaining his grip on a pay-TV group that now spans five European countries and is growing strongly.

3. Amazon shares tanked on Thursday night after the e-commerce website’s fourth quarter profits were much weaker than expected.

4. Microsoft reported quarterly revenue and profit that beat analysts' expectations, driven by aggressive cost cutting and growing demand for its cloud products and services.

5. Sony has posted a nine-month net profit of almost $2 billion, thanks to brisk sales of its PlayStation video games console and image sensors used in smartphones. The electronics giant said net profit came in at 236.1 billion yen ($1.95 billion), reversing a 19.2 billion yen loss a year earlier.

6. Rolls-Royce's Chief Executive will on Friday announce job cuts from his 2,000 strong senior manager team, the Financial Times reports. Most of the “few dozen” job cuts will affect those who report directly to CEO Warren East or his main executive team, according to the report.

7. The BBC has awarded a £100 million contract to replace its broadcast network to BT, claiming that ditching its current deal with Atos will save tens of millions of pounds, the Telegraph reports.

8. AG Barr, the maker of Irn-Bru and Rubicon fizzy drinks, said it expected fourth-quarter revenue growth in excess of 2.5 per cent, after a robust performance in the Christmas period. Barr, whose Irn-Bru fizzy orange drink outsells Coca-Cola in Scotland, bought cocktail mixer business Funkin last year for about £21 million, to expand its drinks portfolio.

9. Shuttle pods used at Heathrow Airport will be adapted to become the first driverless vehicles to be tested on London roads.

10. Barclays has been hit with a lawsuit for nearly a £1bn from Amanda Staveley, the deal-maker with a host of Middle Eastern connections, over the lender’s emergency £5.8 billion fund-raising in 2008, the Financial Times reports.