Planet Business

A sideways glance at business this week

THE NUMBERS

24,080- number of items lost or "substantially delayed" by An Post last year, according to its 2007 annual review. But don't worry, 24,079 of them were probably just bills.

$23 billion- cash sum offered by the Mars family for chewing gum company Wrigley, in a deal likely to leave a bitter taste in the mouths of executives at Cadbury, Nestlé and Hershey.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

 "It got to a situation where no one could distinguish fact from fiction" - Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority chief executive Patrick Neary recalls the heady days of March, when villainous rumour-mongers blurred the lines between the entirely false tales of financial instability in major banks and, um, the real ones.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK 2 "People say that, if consumers are down to their last $50, the last three things they'll buy are milk, eggs and video games"- Do people really say this? What about bread? Cigarettes? Colin Sebastian, video game industry analyst, hypes up the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, which five million gamers are expected to purchase in the next fortnight.

GOODWEEK Jérôme Kerviel

It's reassuring to hear that, in a world where hundreds of thousands of jobs are being swallowed up by the credit crunch, there is still work out there if you can cultivate your own niche. Kerviel, the rogue trader accused of causing losses of €4.9 billion at Société Générale, has found a new job a mere fortnight after being released on bail, having been snapped up by Paris-based computing consulting firm LCA. But which of Kerviel's particular skills are they after?

Biometrics

Air passengers in the UK who hold biometric passports will be screened with facial recognition software rather than the stare of passport officers from this summer, despite fears that the technology will generate "false negatives". Sceptics say similar techniques used by US police at the Super Bowl couldn't even recognise gender. But supporters say here, finally, is an impartial machine willing to confirm that they're much better looking than their passport photos.

BADWEEK Oil giants

The reserves are drying up, and now the words "windfall profits tax" are being whispered once again in Washington circles. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is appealing to middle-class voters by backing the suspension of a federal gasoline tax for the peak summer driving season and its replacement by a tax on the glistening profits earned by oil companies.