Laura Slatteryperuses the week in business
THE NUMBERS
1,800
- Estimated number of job losses at Irish pigmeat processing firms as the €1 billion industry was left reeling from a dioxin scare and mass product recall.
8,000
Number of jobs axed at Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony, which blamed the rapid deterioration in the global economic outlook.
14,000
- Number of jobs that were axed from debt-saddled Rio Tinto, the world's third-largest mining firm, as metal prices contracted severely.- Number of jobs lost from bankrupt British retailer Woolworths, as administrators Deloitte failed to find a buyer and instead announced a closing-down sale.
25,000
- Number of jobs lost from bankrupt British retailer Woolworths, as administrators Deloitte failed to find a buyer and instead announced a closing-down sale
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"The speed at which proposals are put together under pressure that don't even pass an economic test is breathtaking and depressing. The same people who would never touch deficit spending are now tossing around billions."
German finance minister Peer Steinbrück, dubbed chancellor Angela Merkel's "bad cop" by the Financial Times, accuses British prime minister Gordon Brown of abandoning prudence and saddling a generation with debt.
GOOD WEEK
Brenda Shanahan
The 32-year-old bridal shop owner saw off a spirited challenge by auctioneer Nicky O'Callaghan (26) in the final of TV3/Screentime ShinAwil's The Apprentice and was hired as Bill Cullen's newest member of staff. The victory proves that you should never, ever, underestimate the business prowess of someone whose profits are derived from the correct handling of hyperemotional, perfection- demanding brides-to-be.
Burgers
Bring on the ketchup: the burger is back. The company behind Gourmet Burger Kitchen, the Kiwi-inspired but UK-based purveyors of posh meat-patty sandwiches, has more than doubled its profits for the six months to the end of September, as eater-outers traded down from white tablecloths in favour of a good slab of beef in a bun. GBK already has four franchise-run outlets in the Republic.
Kosmix
If you haven't heard of Kosmix, just Kosmix them. Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, two engineers who reportedly twice passed up the chance to buy Google in the 1990s, have now secured $20 million (€15 million) in new funding from Time Warner to push their own search site on an unsuspecting public. It is "quite hard" to find the answer you want on Google if you've only got a vague idea of what you're looking for, they say, but Kosmixing allows users to browse a whole topic.
BAD WEEK
David Ross
The co-founder of Carphone Warehouse has resigned four times this week after revealing he had secretly used company shares as security for billions of pounds worth of personal loans over several years. After shocking his school friend and Carphone Warehouse co-founder Charles Dunstone with the admission last weekend, Ross quit the company on Monday, assuring his former colleagues that he was not in default on the loans.
To avoid political embarrassment, Ross swiftly exited his post from the 2012 Olympics organising committee, and also said goodbye to another two boardroom positions.
