A round-up of news from the world of business

The numbers

£94 million- The record-breaking transfer price that Real Madrid has agreed to pay for the Cristiano Ronaldo

1.2 million- The number of jobs lost in the euro zone in the first quarter of 2009

€15.5 million– the loss posted by the Irish Stock Exchange for 2008

42 per cent- The fall in the value of net financial assets of Irish households since peaking in 2006

Quote of the week

"I'm very confident that, with Ryanair's help, the Government can get it passed."- Ryanair's ever-obliging (not to mention modest) chief executive Michael O'Leary pledged on Wednesday to actively campaign for a 'Yes' vote when the Lisbon Treaty referendum Mark II is held. Jokes about €10 polling station-entry taxes and €5 voting pen levies are already circulating, but at least O'Leary's flair for controversial ad campaigns should make him a worthy opponent of the 'No' camp. On the same day as O'Leary announced his intentions to fly the 'Yes' flag, a Libertas spokesman said that the party is unlikely to campaign in the second referendum. Coincidence?

Good Week

Fred the Shred

Former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland Sir Fred Goodwin has agreed to sacrifice £4.7 million (€5.5 million) of his controversial pension pot. Which leaves him with a paltry retirement fund of less than £13 million. Who said bankers don’t have a conscience?

Arthur Cox

Arthur Cox seems determined not to let this recession go to waste. Not only did the Dublin-based law firm advise the Government on the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank, but it has now succeeded in beating off strong competition to win the contract to provide legal services to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

Bad Week

BA

British Airways has taken cost-cutting to the next level, asking thousands of staff to work for free for up to four weeks. Some of the airline’s harsher critics have slammed the proposal, comparing it to slave labour. Michael O’Leary must be kicking himself that he didn’t think of it first.

The Big Switch

Consumers are constantly being told to shop around these days, but those who recently signed up for the new electricity service of Bord Gáis under its highly successful Big Switch campaign, may be wishing they hadn’t bothered moving from the old reliable (albeit keenly over-priced) – ESB.

Sure they may save 10 to 14 per cent on their electricity bills, but if they’re one of the 75,000 new customers whose bank details are contained on an unencrypted laptop stolen from Bord Gáis, they now have to worry about fraudsters draining their bank accounts or taking out loans in their names.