The Week Unpeeled
Big news week all around, with headlines too close to home on the shooting outside the Empire State Building on Friday to a big week for Apple, which first became the largest US company ever by market-cap value, besting Microsoft at nearly $625 billion, making the company an economic but also social powerhouse. Apple then won a “sweeping victory” in its court battle against Samsung ($1.05 billion in damages) when jurors found Samsung infringed on several patent issues, which may affect how competing smartphones are designed.
Elsewhere:
- Prince Harry exposes himself and most of the media did anything but help him cover up, despite palace warnings (pleas) to keep what happened in Vegas for Harry in Vegas;
- Lance Armstrong was stripped of all his record seven Tour de France titles after announcing that he will no longer fight anti-charges against him (and The Wall Street Journal on Saturday distastefully repeated a joke from one comic on Lance that he now doubts “Amstrong’s story that he walked on the moon” even though Neil Amstrong had just died);
- The Dow declined for the week despite a Friday rally to end to close down 0.9 percent to 13,157;
- “The Office” announced that it this was its last season and that Dwight no doubt will end up a beet farmer;
- Phyllis Diller, American comedienne died, and Augusta National admitted its first two female members (In interesting juxtaposition, a Diller tribute on the front page of The New York Times Tuesday showed a picture of Ms Diller pointing right and apparently laughing to the neighboring story on Masters story on finally admitting women;
- The U.K. economy shrank less than initially estimated in the second quarter after construction and production output were revised to show a smaller slump;
- Thousands of Aviva's UK employees are in fear for their jobs after the FTSE 100 insurer released a statement warning it could currently guarantee only 70pc of their jobs;
- Standard & Poor's has downgraded its outlook for HSBC Holdings from stable to negative. HSBC has already set aside $700m (£442m) to cover potential fines for channeling funds from countries such as Iran, Mexico and Syria, in breach of US anti-money laundering regulations; and
- Diageo, the world's biggest producer of spirits, has reported a big jump in annual profits, thanks in part to strong sales and acquisitions in emerging markets.
R U OK? Four letters as a question conveyed a lot today.
About eight years ago, I got a call from a trusted friend and colleague. She had left the firm that I still worked for, and was making tremendous strides at an upstart firm that I had never heard of. "Things are happening here," she told me. "Just come in and talk."
