Planet Business

Ad space:Benetton is back to its old tricks, with a marketing campaign designed purely, it would seem, to get the Vatican to scale up its publicity for free.

Ads in its “Unhate” campaign show an image of US president Barack Obama kissing his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, while another treats us to Merkozy sharing a full-lipped smacker. The one the Vatican is none too keen on, however, is an image of Pope Benedict sharing a clinch with Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb. The Vatican called it “a clear demonstration of how publicity can violate the basic rules of respect for people”. Benetton countered by saying its campaign was based on “an ideal notion of tolerance”. It’s so hard to pick a side.

STATUS UPDATE

Fuel whip-round:Comtel Air passengers were escorted to ATMs in Vienna airport to fund the €23,400 cost of a flight back to Britain. Next: put the coin in the slot to activate the engine.

Profits blizzard: French media giant Vivendi has reported a 32 per cent earnings surge at subsidiary Universal Music Group, while games division Activision Blizzard also thrived.

Chemical games: London 2012 organisers have been urged to ditch chemical group Dow's sponsorship of a fabric wrap around the Olympic Stadium over its links to the firm behind the 1984 Bhopal gas leak disaster.

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percentage fall in shipments of PCs to western Europe in the third quarter, according to technology firm Gartner.

Shop talk

Mothercare has announced a review of its floundering UK business, which lost £80 million in the last six months, prompting retail analyst Kate Calvert to note: “We believe that Mothercare has lost its modern-day relevance for mums.” Ouch! That pretty much just leaves modern-day relevance for passers-by hoping to buy last-minute baby shower gifts for the pregnant woman in their lives. So has everyone finally stopped having babies, or is it all about the Mamas & Papas now? As ever, this is a tale of the combined commercial might of supermarkets and online companies sucking up the territory of a physical retailer. Mothercare, which has already said it will close 110 UK stores, recently parted company with its chief executive Ben Gordon, after he lost his modern-day relevance to the company.

THE QUESTION

Why is Warren Buffett so keen on IBM all of a sudden?

Technology companies were once routinely spurned by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, but now the world’s third-richest man (according to Forbes) has disclosed that he has built a 5.4 per cent stake in IBM since March through his investment company Berkshire Hathaway.

Why the turnaround? It’s all about the emerging markets factor.

“If you’re in some country around the world and you’re developing your IT department, you’re probably going to feel more comfortable with IBM than with many companies,” Buffett told CNBC.

Having digested IBM’s annual report, he saw the firm “through a different lens”, he said. “It’s a big deal for a big company to change auditors, change law firms, or change IT support . . . There’s a fair amount of presumption in many places that if you’re with IBM, you stay with them.”

Buffett’s track record for identifying and then snapping up undervalued stocks means his investment choices are always closely monitored. But, for many tech analysts, IBM does not currently fall within the definition of undervalued.

Indeed, the 28 per cent increase in its share price this year – making the New York-based group the biggest gainer of the 30 stocks on the Dow Jones Industrial Average – has prompted several to remove their “buy” recommendations on the basis that all the value has gone. Buffett bought most of his IBM shares in the third quarter, meaning he kept buying even though IBM was, to others, starting to look expensive. But it will be years before both Berkshire and the more sceptical analysts discover whether this IBM love is costly or yet another Buffett bargain.

New IBM chief executive Virginia “Ginni” Rometty is the woman with the power to prove Buffett right. Or wrong.

"Help us, Mr Draghi. You're our only hope"

Economist Alan Ahearne invokes Star Wars as he compares new ECB president Mario Draghi to Obi-Wan Kenobi.