Planet Business

Compiled by LAURA SLATTERY

The list: Paddy Powerisms

It is not just in its advertisements that Paddy Power likes to cross lines – its notes to investors are also inflected with colourful, unexpected and sometimes wilfully crass remarks.

1 Celebrity unions: “To tell the truth, we were about as successful as a Tom Cruise marriage,” observed the bookmaker in this week’s interim results statement.

2 Manager baiting: A string of money-back specials had Paddy Power “sweating more than Harry Redknapp at Southwark Crown Court”, it said in March.

3 Golf gags: Its early payout on Tiger Woods backfired when an outsider “came charging at Tiger like Elin with a nine-iron” – from a 2009 results announcement.

4 Charlie Sheen: Back in April 2011 when Charlie Sheen jokes were all the rage, the Paddy Power annual report merrily joined in the trend.

5 Saving face: Online terminals are available in shops, it told investors, giving customers the “added bonus of avoiding the mortification of having to ask a real person for odds on Dancing On Ice.”

The lexicon: Samsunk

Poor Samsung has a lot of sympathisers right now, but a fat lot of good that will do them if they are not on the jury. After Apple scored a big win over its South Korean rival – with a US jury finding that Samsung had infringed six Apple patents – Samsung’s smartphone strategy is cracking up. All-powerful Apple, already set to collect $1.05 billion in damages, is seeking to have eight Samsung phone models and one tablet permanently banned in the US. While Samsung might be “Samsunk” for the moment, though, its lawyers seem set to get to know the inside of those appeal courts very well indeed.

In numbers: US recovery?

0.4 - The percentage rise in consumer spending in the US in July – an important sign of recovery in a country where consumption accounts for 70 per cent of economic activity.

1.7 - US economic growth in percentage terms in the second quarter, another good number for Barack Obama as he campaigns for a second term.

$2.3 trillion - Sum that the US Federal Reserve has pumped into the economy over the past four years in a bid to get it functioning.

Getting to know: Abigail Johnson

Granddaughter of the founder of asset manager Fidelity Investments, Abigail (Abby) Johnson has been deemed one of the most powerful women in finance following her elevation to the number two position in the company, behind her father, Edward (Ned) Johnson (82).

Like all good financiers, she keeps a low profile, although she did once tell Business Week that “it’s a mistake for any manager to delve into the details on everything”, so it just depends on whether that means she is a sensible delegator who trusts key staff or the kind of executive who won’t spot a scandal from three feet away. She will run all of Fidelity’s main businesses, essentially overseeing some $1.6 trillion in assets. She herself is worth more than $10 billion, which makes her the 29th richest person in the US.