PLANET BUSINESS: First you get the medals, then you get the money. Charismatic Olympians are advertising gold-dust. Many will now have their pick of brands offering sponsorship deals, and some stand to make seven figures.
1 The Flying Squirrel The 16-year-old American gymnast Gabby Douglas is rumoured to have millions in sponsorship and endorsement deals waiting for her. Kellogg's stole a march on its competitors, emblazoning corn flakes boxes with pictures of the beaming athlete just hours after she won the women's all-round gymnastics title.
2 Katie Taylor The font of wisdom that is Max Clifford reckons Katie could make a cool million from a combination of endorsements and TV opportunities. We can but hope the celebrity publicist doesn't persuade our champion to sign up for Celebrity Big Brother . . .
3 Cian O'Connor There was a brief moment after Athens when Cian O'Connor was the golden boy of showjumping and offers flooded in from prospective sponsors, but of course that all went pear-shaped when he had to hand back his gold medal. It will be interesting to see whether all is forgiven now that he has taken home the bronze.
Image of the week
Remote-controlled mini-Minis were used to shuttle javelins and hammers back to the athletes at the Olympics. However, the innovation sparked controversy, with questions raised as to whether the tactic worthy of Don Draper of Mad Men fame bent the rules relating to the ban on advertising at Olympic venues.
Photograph: Michael Steele/ Getty Images
In numbers: the big losers
€1.2bn
The quarterly loss reported by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp
€1.6bn
The (revised) potential cost of rescuing Quinn Insurance
$17bn
The amount wiped off the value of scandal-hit bank Standard Chartered on Tuesday
Getting to know: Charoen Sirivadhanabkakdi
The Thai beverage tycoon is proving a thorn in the side of Dutch beer group Heineken. This week, companies controlled by Charoen’s family ramped up a bidding war with Heineken for Asia Pacific Breweries, the maker of Tiger beer.
Charoen, a billionaire who grew up in Bangkok’s Chinatown, has a history of taking on foreign brewers, and winning. In 2005 Carlsberg had to pay out $120 million in settlement of a legal dispute with a brewer controlled by Charoen.
The lexicon: Les Riches
French president François Hollande has set the cat amongst the pigeons by vowing to impose a 75 per cent tax on incomes of more than €1 million.
However, France’s high earners – “Les Riches” – are hitting back, threatening an exodus from the fifth-richest country in the world. Many of Les Riches claim it’s not just the millionaire levy they object to, but what it symbolises about the country’s attitude to wealth.
It’s hardly surprising that a socialist president would target high earners. However, it must be difficult to take from France’s self-styled “Mr Normal”, who once said: “I don’t like the rich”, given that he himself is worth almost €1.2 million and owns a house on the French Riviera.
