Business Diary: Why Buffett isn't buying Apple

More wise advice from the sage of Omaha on the secret of investing successfully: stick to buying what you understand, even if that means missing out on bandwagons everyone else appears to be jumping upon. So, says Warren Buffett, while he remains a long-term fan of Coca-Cola, he won't be sticking any money into Apple. "Even though Apple may have the most wonderful future in the world, I'm not capable of bringing any drink to that particular party and evaluating that future," he confesses.

Like father, like daughter

Sir Richard Branson has made a career out of dressing up for PR stunts that have garnered his many business initiatives all sorts of invaluable publicity. But while it is natural for children to want to follow in their fathers' footsteps, might Holly Branson, the bearded one's daughter, at least be excused the embarrassing dressing-up bit? Apparently not – the pair of them are both dressing up as cheerleaders to persuade people to get involved with an attempt to cheer on London Marathon runners. At least it's for a good cause.

Hurd back in the firing line over HP

Poor old Mark Hurd just can't put his departure from Hewlett-Packard behind him. Hurd got the push from HP after a row about sexual harassment, though he has always denied allegations made against him. Now he is gainfully employed at Oracle – and HP has a new boss too – he had hoped the world would move on. Sadly not. A US court has just ordered that the original letter to the board from the employee making the harassment allegations be made public. Expect a whole bunch of new salacious headlines the moment it is.

Gupta spares his school's blushes

If you thought the London School of Economics had problems over its links to Libya, spare a thought for the Indian School of Business. The institute is a prestigious one, but has been somewhat tarnished by the identity of its founder and chairman – one Rajat Gupta, the former boss of McKinsey, who is now facing civil charges over insider dealing in the US. The school has loyally stuck by its man, but yesterday he decided to step down to spare it any further embarrassment.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk