LAURA SLATTERYperuses the week in business
THE NUMBERS
$1.5 million
- money raised in a "garage sale" held by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in a bid to reduce the US state's budget deficit. How much is the Book of Kells worth again?
$1 billion
- average monthly losses racked up by airlines worldwide in 2009, according to the International Air Transport Association. Puts little old Aer Lingus's cash burn problem into context.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK I
"They find themselves in the position where they are, because they were last to the party. They certainly want to be the first to leave the party."
- Bill Shipsey, counsel for property developer Liam Carroll, wonders why ACCBank didn't read Morgan Kelly's dire warnings about the property market before it made a belated entrance to the loan party in mid-2007.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK II
"Nama-ed"
- Lyndon MacCann, counsel for ACCBank, envisages the future for the Zoe group and coins a new verb while he's at it.
GOOD WEEK
The Disney empire
Wolverine, Storm and Peter Parker will be united with such diverse talents as Hannah Montana, Wall-E and Mickey Mouse after the Disney conglomerate said it would buy Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion (€2.8 billion) this week, in a deal that is likely to spawn more merchandising licensing opportunities, film and video-game spin-offs, comic-book theme parks and general superhero- related pester power. "With great power comes great responsibility," as they say in Spider-Man . . . presumably a line the relevant competition authorities will avoid the temptation to repeat when the time comes to approve the deal.
YouTube
Having spent its incubation years imploring users to "broadcast yourself", YouTube is planning to broadcast the same old Hollywood faces instead. The video website is reportedly in negotiations with major film studios for a deal that would let the YouTube community pay to watch movies online. (Pay to watch movies?) But this was not the only sign this week that the site is moving away from its amateur roots towards more professional, advertising-friendly pastures: YouTube has resolved a royalties dispute with the music industry in a move that will see thousands of music videos reinstated on its database.
BAD WEEK
O'Brien-O'Reilly relations
The battle of the media moguls is going to be "one hell of a scrap", according to an unnamed member of the O'Brien camp quoted in the British press. Round 487 between "dissident shareholder" Denis O'Brien and Independent News & Media chief executive Gavin O'Reilly saw open warfare this week, as O'Brien called an egm to block the sale of its South African outdoor advertising business; demand the removal of company chairman Brian Hillery and independent director Baroness Jay; and push for the closure or sale of the loss-making London Independent titles.
The Cayman Islands
Think the Commission on Taxation group is going to recommend major reforms to the Irish system? Perhaps, but it can't possibly suggest any changes as sweeping as those now being urged on the government of the Cayman Islands, the sandy, balmy tax haven that is now getting itself into a bit of a financial sweat, California-style. The UK has refused a request to bail out the near-bankrupt Cayman government, with its foreign office starkly suggesting the unthinkable: "consider new taxes". But where else will the ultra-wealthy moor their yachts in tax-free bliss?
