Category: Business
Corporate fraud: Mind your language
A wise thief tries not to draw attention to himself
IN THE film “Superman 3”, a lowly computer programmer (played by Richard Pryor, pictured) embezzles a fat wad of money from his employer. The boss laments that it will be hard t…
Telecoms in America: A dark day for LightSquared
AMERICAN telecoms firms are clamouring for more wireless spectrum. Hence the interest in LightSquared, a firm which had hoovered up a chunk of airwaves formerly used by satellite operators. It planned to build a high-speed terrestrial network and rent …
The best and worst stocks of the past decade: Invest in a time machine
Hindsight can be frustrating. We kick ourselves for not buying Apple shares ten years ago, when they were $12.50 each. On February 13th they rose above $500. So $100 invested in Apple in February 2002, around the time it unveiled it…
Nuclear energy in France: Fallout
Atomic Anne is angry
FANS of the cock-up theory of events got a boost this week when Areva, a French nuclear-energy one-stop shop, said there had been no fraud in its disastrous purchase of UraMin, a Canadian start-up firm with minin…
Patents and mobile devices: FRAND or foe?
A spot of bother over phones
GO AHEAD, but we’re watching you. That, in effect, is what competition authorities in America and the European Union told Google on February 13th. Last August the search-engine giant agreed to buy Motor…
Japanese manufacturing: From summit to plummet
IN TOKYO’S posh Ginza shopping district the Apple Store is packed, but the nearby Sony showroom is as lifeless as a mausoleum. In recent days the largest Japanese gadget-makers said they expect to lose a combined $17 billion in th…
European carmakers: Too many cars, too few buyers
GERMAN autobahns are unlike motorways elsewhere—on some you can drive as fast as you like. Germany’s car industry is also in a class of its own. Its three big premium brands, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi (part of Volkswagen), are…
Schumpeter: This time it’s serious
IS AMERICA fading? It seems an odd thing to say about a country that so dominates the industries of the future. Where else could Facebook have grown from a student prank to a $100 billion company in less than a decade? America has b…
Planes and pollution: Trouble in the air, double on the ground
If the skies were clear, you’d see the planes
COULD a fresh row over airline emissions lead to a global trade war? That is the scariest prospect raised by China’s objections this week to the European Union’s new plan for contro…
Model economics: The beauty business
ON FEBRUARY 17th London’s spring fashion week begins. Across the capital, young women in vertiginous shoes and skimpy dresses will be teetering along catwalks. And thousands of young doughnut-dodgers will be inspired to queue outs…
