Another week, another new multimillionaire, although the £230 million (give or take a few million, but who's arguing) that Denis O'Brien will get from selling his Esat shares to British Telecom puts him in the super-rich belt - the small group which doesn't even have to think twice before ordering the private jet.
He is just the latest in a list of entrepreneurs to cash in their chips. Over the past year or so other big sellers have included Northern Ireland phone software company Apion Software, sold to US giant Phone.com for $290 million (£220 million), Doyle Hotels, bought by Jurys for £187 million and Cablelink, sold by RTE and Eircom to international telecoms company NTL for £325 million.
Option 2, of course, is a stockmarket flotation, which is effectively a sale of some of the company's shares to a group of investors. Joining the multimillionaire stakes in this category last year have been the senior management of high-flying, high-tech firms such as Baltimore Technologies, Trintech and Horizon.
The extraordinary valuation placed on tech-related shares, particularly the so-called dot.com stock of Internet-related companies, has meant massive gains on the value of shares held by entrepreneurs in their companies after they have floated on the market. And the gains have trickled down to hundreds of the managers and staff of many of these companies - and to thousands of the employees of major US technology multinationals with operations here.
Self-evidently, this trend benefits the individuals involved. But what does it mean for the economy? Does it matter that a company is run from, say, Atlanta rather than Dublin? And what are the implications of key sectors of the economy coming under foreign ownership? In telecoms, for example, two of the major players here will now be BT and NTL, and there is a sporting chance of Eircom being taken out by a foreign buyer.
The immediate disadvantage of a foreign takeover is that a substantial whack of annual profits will leave the State, as dividends flow back to the parent company. Such repatriations were a cause of great concern for public policy here in the 1980s, when it appeared that billions of pounds were disappearing into a "black hole" from foreign-owned multinational subsidiaries.
Now the issue is slightly different - profits which would have stayed in Ireland previously will go overseas. In the modern business world this is, quite simply, an unstoppable trend. Irish business is now part of the trend to what the jargon calls "globalisation" - where business takes place across national boundaries. The takeover of many of our leading businesses is just part of this trend.
We can hardly complain; businesses like Intel and Hewlett Packard are creating thousands of jobs here. Just this week US computer giant Intel said it was investing a further £500 million in Leixlip to create up to 600 jobs - the knock-on benefits to the economy of this type of project are immense. And Irish companies themselves have been very active in recent years in building their own businesses overseas.
The more important point for the economy is a more subtle one. It doesn't much matter if "companyx.com" is sold to a British or US company, provided more Irish start-ups are coming up behind, pioneering new areas of the economic growth. What really matters is whether a culture of entrepreneurship has taken hold in the economy. And whether Irish management and the environment for doing business here can combine to build significant businesses here that are at the forefront by international standards.
All the indications, fortunately, are that business is thriving - in some sectors of the economy at least. A flood of new homegrown start-ups are now coming on stream in software and e-commerce-related areas, encouraged by the international success of companies such as Iona Technologies and Baltimore Technologies.
The "demonstration" effect of these successes should not be underestimated; the millions being earned in sellouts and flotation have contributed to a significant change in approach, where setting up a business, with all the risks involved, is now seen as a valid career option.
It remains to be seen whether the next generation of business leaders can put Ireland at the forefront of the e-commerce revolution; but at least we are in a position where many business people are actively trying to see what opportunities are available - and aiming to take advantage of them. It was not so long ago that such business startups were relatively rare.
Are there areas of business where it is strategically important to retain home control? Many in Germany think so, and are resisting the takeover of their telecoms company Mannesmann by Vodafone of Britain, while France has also provided a hostile environment for foreign raiders.
The reality for Ireland, as a relatively small player internationally - and one that earns much of its annual shilling from the exports of multinational firms - is that there is little we can do through legal or other barriers to stop our businesses being sold. If Eircom is sold in the months ahead to a foreign player, most of our telecoms services will be provided by overseas-owned firms.
If this means that fewer Irish managers can gain experience in running these businesses we are missing experience in a key sector. But if the Irish managers are good enough, they are likely to be the ones left running the business for overseas owners.
These takeover trends will accelerate quickly when the euro really takes hold. The fact is that in a few years' time the economy will effectively be a region in the euro economic area - a bit like New Hampshire is to the US. True, we retain our own Government, but economically a single currency will inevitably promote convergence.
This raises a policy question for the Government. For competition reasons, mergers between two big Irish companies would normally be ruled out. But if we are part of a wider euro area, surely it makes sense to allow bigger national players? Why not, for example, let AIB bid for Ulster Bank? Or should we consider merging AIB and Bank of Ireland to retain national control of one of our strategic businesses?
Our banks - and many of our other businesses - are now firmly in the sights of international predators. The way for Irish business to retain control is to do it to them before they do it to you.