Business week in review

In profit...

Legal & General boss Nigel Wilson could hardly contain his delight as the City lapped up his company's first-half results on Tuesday. The insurer's shares reached a 14-year high after L&G increased its profit and dividend. The key to this success? A lucky tie, he joked.

His namesake, Mark Wilson at Aviva, wasn't able to raise his company's dividend but was still a happy man after analysts gave the thumbs-up to the restructuring measures he has taken since joining the insurer in January.

It was also a good week for 'Washington Post' publisher Katharine Weymouth after billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos snapped up the paper for $250m. The best bit of news for her? She keeps her job.

...at a loss

Billionaire investor Dan Loeb lost a few admirers last month when he described Sony's film and music business as a "red-headed stepchild". Unfortunately for the founder of hedge fund Third Point, things took a turn for the worse once again last week when the electronics giant rejected his proposal to partially spin off the division.

Greggs' boss Roger Whiteside will be crossing his fingers that we Brits rekindle our love of sausage rolls and pasties after the chain posted a 29% fall in profits during the six months to July.

And finally, don't be surprised to see Ladbrokes chief executive Richard Glynn doing a rain dance in the street — he blamed the recent heatwave for a 50% dive in first-half profits.