Business Diary: O'Neill celebrates Bric anniversary

Ker-ching. Is that the sound of cashing in we hear? Not that Jim O'Neill, the Goldman Sachs economist, is in need of the money, but presumably Penguin is chucking him a few quid for a new book on the Bric economies. It's a decade since O'Neill came up with the Bric idea – the acronym stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China – and his prediction that they were about to become the world's economic powerhouses looks ever more prescient by the day. Penguin's Joel Rickett crows: "Jim O'Neill is one of the world's most influential economic thinkers – no wonder he has been described as Goldman Sachs'rock star."

Manchester duo bash the bookie

Bad news for Sporting Index, the spread betting company. We hear the cricket scores racked up by the two Manchester sides on Sunday – United whacked Arsenal 8-2 while City thrashed Spurs 5-1 – resulted in its worst Sunday ever. The two games combined apparently cost the company the best part of £1m, with each goal scored by the two teams adding £75,000 to Sporting Index's bill.

Personal shopper to the rich

Spear's, the monthly magazine for the wealthy, arrives with itscustomary sprinkling of articles to put us mere mortals on modest means in our place. Take the three-page feature on Annabel Hodin, "closet guru to stars and leading financiers". She charges from £500 to go through your wardrobe and tell you what you should chuck out – more if you need her help for some replacements. Ideal for hedge fund managers' wives, says Spear's, though Hodin says she's seeing more men, too, these days.

DSK finally gets to say farewell

Our spies at Bloomberg tell us that Christine Lagarde, the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund, had a visitor on Monday evening – her predecessor Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is now free from the rape charges that prompted his departure from the fund. A spokesman for the IMF told Bloomberg that the visit had been a personal one, with DSK also taking a bit of time to say farewell to some of his former colleagues. It can't have been a comfortable encounter.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk