Planet Business

Image of the week: Miami nice
Dubai World is poised to sell its 50 per cent stake in the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, as it seeks to cut its $25 billion debt to local property player Turnberry Ltd.

Back in the 1960s, the Fontainebleau Hotel became famous as a playground for stars such as Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Jerry Lewis. However, by 2008, when the Gulf state bought in for $375 million, it needed a facelift and borrowed $620 million to fund this, and was subsequently forced to refinance the debt two years later.

In the meantime, its new part-owner faced a debt crisis of its own following a property crash, forcing it to restructure its own liabilities, a problem it is dealing with by selling non-core assets such as its stake in the Fontainebleau.

In Numbers: Mobile requiem
€5.4 billion
Amount that Microsoft is paying for ailing Finnish group Nokia's core business, spelling the end of a brand that was once synonymous with mobile phones.

€200 billionNokia’s value in its heyday, when it held around 40 per cent of the global market

3%
Nokia's total share of the smart phone market today, leaving it with plenty of ground to make up on dominant players Apple and Samsung.

Getting to know: Lowell McAdam
Words such as "studied" "quiet" and "diplomatic" have been bandied around this week by profile writers looking to sum up Lowell McAdam, the Verizon chief executive who succeeded where his predecessor, Ivan Seidenberg, failed and convinced Vodafone to sell its 45 per cent stake in the US group's wireless division.

McAdam, from rural New York state, joined the US Navy’s engineering corps straight from college where he spent six years. He began working in the telecoms sector in 1980, and joined Verizon Wireless two decades later. He became chief executive of that business in 2007 and four years later moved upstairs to become overall group chief executive.

Whatever about his quiet diplomatic qualities, his friendship with Vodafone chief executive, Vittorio Colao, was acknowledged as being central to the deal announced this week.