LAURA SLATTERYperuses the week in business

793

Number of people left in the world's dwindling billionaire club, down from 1,125 last year, according to Forbesmagazine's annual rich list, which saw Bill Gates reclaim the top spot from Warren Buffett

€4.5 billion

The minimum sum that will be raised by the Government's "supplementary" budget on April 7th, with the exact amount described as a "moving target" by the Taoiseach. So the assets of five people on the Forbesrich list will sort us all out, then.

€1.7 billion

Estimated wealth in euro of Denis O'Brien, who overtook Seán Quinn as Ireland's wealthiest businessman on the Forbeslist, despite losses on his investment in Independent News Media.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

'I think that we can now say that we've entered a Great Recession.'

The International Monetary Fund’s Dominique Strauss-Kahn does the honours and names the current economic slump for the benefit of the history textbooks.

GOOD WEEK

Alan Greenspan

The former chairman of the US Federal Reserve has hit back at those who believe his “easy money” low interest rate policies caused the credit crunch and Great Recession. In what is possibly the grandest “it’s not me, it’s you” note in history, Greenspan wrote in the Wall Street Journal that it was not that US mortgage borrowers had been permitted to borrow too much, but rather that China had built up an excess of savings that was poured into the bond markets, inconveniently keeping long-term rates low.

Time-zone hoppers

The Ryanairisation of longhaul air travel is upon us with news that Air Asia’s budget airline subsidiary has begun a no-frills service from London to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, with passengers required to pay extra to eat meals and watch in-flight movies from their reduced-legroom, non-reclining seats. Fares start from £99 (€106.80) for the privilege. The flight lasts 12 hours.

BAD WEEK

Kodak

Having watched its film business evaporate due to the prevalence of digital cameras, Kodak found itself in the ignominious position of being one of the most high-profile names to feature on Moody’s new “most likely to default” list, known as the Bottom Rung. The company, founded in 1880 by camera pioneer George Eastman, protested that it was “financially solid” and shouldn’t be named in the same breath as the other 282 companies on the list, which Moody’s plans to update monthly.

Brian Myerson

In a valiant bid to open a legal Pandora’s box, Mr Myerson has attempted to persuade a British judge to overturn the final chunk of his £11 million (€11.86 million) divorce payout because the share price of his investment company has subsequently collapsed more than 90 per cent in value. Mrs Myerson’s lawyer said Mr Myerson’s difficulties were the result of financial ignorance about the nature of equity investments and that it was too late to seek to go back and unpick the deal.