Last year was full of "unprecedented disruption and transition ... at the half-year results we said we expected a volatile second half, not realizing how true that was going to be," said Heineken CEO Dolf van den Brink. 

With less than a third of bars and pubs in Europe open for business at the end of January, Heineken has become the latest big corporate name to announce significant job losses. The Dutch brewing giant posted an 8 percent fall in year-on-year sales, underlying the devastating effect the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the the hospitality sector.

Elsewhere, the UK government is under pressure from its own pub sector to know when the doors may finally open again. 

In Spain hoteliers and hospitality providers have taken to the streets calling for more support for their sector. Watch our film to see more.  

Tech, however, continues to boom in lockdown, with record revenue results from social media platform Twitter. Marking another billion-dollar earnings quarter, boss Jack Dorsey said that 80 percent of Twitter's audience is now outside the U.S., with 6,000 different topics driving growth. 

And while these are tough times for Heineken, don't worry about alcohol sales collapsing in lockdown. The pubs may be shut but the figures show home guzzling is booming. 

Read on for more of the day's business news in full. 

Louise Greenwood

Digital news producer 

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Brewing giant Heineken says it plans to cut 8,000 jobs as the COVID-19 lockdown takes its toll on the hospitality sector. The cuts, which amount to almost a 10th of its entire workforce, are part of a radical savings overhaul of $2.4 billion in over the next two years. Around a fifth of jobs will go at the company's headquarters in Amsterdam. The world's second-largest brewer after Anheuser-Busch InBev, says it is pinning recovery hopes on its premium products and new, healthier, zero-alcohol options.  

The beer and pub sector is pressing the UK government to give it a reopening date. The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) says restrictions on trading and lockdowns cut sales by more than half last year, equivalent to $10.8 billion of lost earnings. The government insists it has a plan for reopening the economy, which it will reveal later this month. 

Twitter has posted record revenues for the last quarter of 2020, in what its CEO has called "an extraordinary year" for the social messaging platform. Revenue grew 28 percent on 2019 to $1.29 billion, beating analysts' expectations despite failing to significantly increase user numbers. In January, Twitter banned the account of former U.S. President Donald Trump, which some analysts had predicted may lead to a backlash among some user groups. In a statement, Twitter boss Jack Dorsey said "We're a platform that is obviously much larger than any one topic or any one account". 

Danish green energy giant Vestas has unveiled plans for the world's biggest offshore wind turbine. The 15-megawatt windmill will be taller than the highest point on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The first V236 MW prototype is expected to be installed in 2022, with mass production scheduled for 2024. Each blade on the turbine will measure 115.5 meters long, giving it a total height of 261 meters. The industry is aiming for larger machines that generate wind power more efficiently and at a lower cost. 

Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange are each suing the regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, over plans to overhaul public data feeds that broadcast stock prices to investors. Under proposals revealed in December, SEC wants to add supply and demand data for stocks currently sold to professional traders at a premium to public feeds, thereby broadening access to the information. Nasdaq claims "the SEC exceeded its authority by adopting an ill-considered remake of market structure," that it claims would push up costs.

The world's biggest music label Universal Music is to join a live streaming platform set up by K-pop's major record labels. Universal, which represents superstars such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna is to invest in the VenewLive platform launched last year by Big Hit Entertainment, which represents K-pop superstars BTS. Big Hit set up VenewLive last September as part of a joint venture called KBYK Live to capitalize on the growing global success of K-pop. Last year, BTS became the first K-pop band to have a number one on the U.S. Billboard charts.

Toy giant Mattel has reported surging sales over the last quarter of 2020. The maker of Barbie says sales rose 2 percent last year to more than $4.5 billion, rising 10 percent in the last three months of the year, including the critical Christmas period. Sales of Barbie dolls alone were up 16 percent globally as parents stocked up on toys to keep children amused through lockdown, in what CEO Ynon Kreiz called "our best performance in years." Shares have risen a third over 12 months. 

Earnings have jumped at the Danish shipping giant Maersk, as demand jumps from locked-down consumers for big-ticket goods such as furniture and exercise equipment. Maersk says fourth-quarter earnings before tax and other costs leapt 85 percent to $2.71 billion from a year earlier, helped by record high freight rates and low fuel prices, although that figure still came in slightly below analysts' expectations and shares fell slightly on the news. 

The new CEO of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, says the fund is committed to China. "We're still very positive on the long-term trajectory of China from what we can see," Pillay said, after being confirmed as the replacement of Ho Ching, who will step down in October after 17 years as head of the $230 billion firm. Pillay, who heads Temasek's international unit, will need to steer one of the world's biggest investment funds through markets hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chinese banks saw the size of their bad loans shrinking towards the end of last year, statistics from the country's regulators show. Outstanding bad loans at China's commercial banks was down to 1.8 percent at the end of 2020 and down 2.7 percent on the previous year.

Eurozone states will have to keep fiscal spending up this year and next to protect from permanent damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ECB boss Christine Lagarde has warned. Speaking on Wednesday, Lagarde also called on European Union leaders to kick-start the bloc's $900 billion "Next Generation" recovery spending package, as some economic restrictions could remain in place until the second half of the year.

Sweden's central bank said the severity of the COVID-19 crisis means it will take years before inflation is even close to its target, requiring continued "extensive" monetary support. The Stockholm-based Riksbank is holding its benchmark interest rate at zero, as expected, and maintaining its quantitative easing program.

Europol, the European police agency, says it has assisted in the arrest of 10 hackers suspected of stealing $100 million in cryptocurrency. The attacks, which were made as an orchestrated event by a single criminal gang two years ago, were part of a "SIM-swapping" exercise that allowed suspects to gain access to their victims' phones. The group targeted famous internet influencers, sport stars, musicians and their families, according to a statement.

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WATCH: Spain's hospitality sector has been one of the worst-affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with food and drink venues forced to close in 10 of Spain's 17 regions. Unions took to the streets calling for more support. 
 

Bitcoin surged towards the $50,000 dollar mark on Tuesday, following green car giant Tesla's announcement that it's bought $1.5bn of the cryptocurrency. After a 20 percent jump, Bitcoin steadied at around $48,216. CGTN Europe spoke to Mati Greenspan, founder of Quantum Economics and co-author of the Complete Guide to Fintech Trading and Investments about what's going on .

So this has been kind of a long time coming. We've seen more and more companies, namely MicroStrategy and Square, adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets as a way to diversify their portfolio out of cash. Of course, the thinking is that there's been a lot of fiat money that's controlled by governments printed over the last year. And at some point this money is going to go down in value. And, of course, as we know, Bitcoin, due to its limited supply, is designed to go up in value over time. So this, of course, is a logical step for any company and it's good to see Tesla leading the way yet again.

What's really been driving its huge price increase over the past year, because Bitcoin was rising before we had these comments from Elon Musk. 

Even just in the last few months, we've seen a huge realization from institutional players and especially on Wall Street, who are suddenly realizing, just as we've been saying for many years, that fiat currency is designed to go down, whereas Bitcoin is designed to go up. So there is only 21 million Bitcoin that will ever be produced. And now it's a race to see who is going to own them. 

Do you think Tesla buying in is something of a game changer for Bitcoin? Does this signify it might be becoming more mainstream? 

Well, it's certainly good for Tesla, as we've been saying all along, and it's been good for MicroStrategy and Square the previous two companies. It is good for Bitcoin as it gives it kind of a vote of confidence is going to make it a little bit more flexible in the eyes of global regulators, in the eyes of global corporations. The bigger question right now is who is currently out there buying Bitcoin for their balance sheets and has not yet disclosed? And I think we've got a few guesses for those as well.

And finally, while brewing giant Heineken is feeling the effect of COVID-19 on its business, research indicates that alcohol sales have been rising overall during lockdown. In many cases, home consumption is more than making up for lost revenue from pubs and restaurants.