The Business Week In Review: Tim Cook, Mike Ashley, Ian Cheshire, Yell and Nat Rothschild

 

In profit...

Fears that Steve Jobs’s name was bigger than the Apple brand can now be dismissed. On Monday, Apple stock soared past $500-a-share for the first time in the technology behemoth’s history.

Apple chief Tim Cook has not only successfully aped the tech legend’s sartorial style – the black top and blue jeans combo – he is also developing some of his late predecessor’s bite. Cook dismissed the products of rivals as “joyless” and “cheap”, upping the war of words ahead of the widelyanticipated launch of Apple’s latest tablet computer, the iPad 3.

Back in blighty, well-padded Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley could bask in the thanks of his Sports Direct staff – a welcome change from the barrage of criticism he has regularly received from disgruntled Magpies fans.

Outstanding third quarter results on Wednesday mean that under the retailer’s incentive plan, Sports Direct’s 3,000 workers are on track for share bonuses that could eventually be worth more than £30,000 each. Ashley’s own share bonus is currently worth a cool £16m.

Talking of bonuses, Kingfisher boss Ian Cheshire must be grinning like an eponymous cat. In a fourth quarter trading update on Thursday, the B&Q owner revealed the top team had smashed bonus scheme targets.

...at a loss

Yell makes investors want to scream. The Yellow Pages publisher saw shares fall 19 per cent to less than 5p after chief executive Mike Pocock confirmed a steep decline in revenue in last Tuesday’s third quarter results.

The heavily-indebted directories business has suffered horrendously in the crisis: before March 2008, Yell was a FTSE 100 stalwart with a share price that sometimes touched £6. But print advertisers are deserting in droves and Pocock’s digital strategy is yet to wow the market.

However, it could be worse for Pocock: he could be the billionaire scion of a banking dynasty. Last week, Nat Rothschild barely escaped an attempt to have him ousted from the board of Bumi, the coalmining venture. The Bakries, who own a 29.9 per cent stake in Bumi with industrialist Samin Tan, were infuriated by Rothschild’s attack on their corporate governance standards last year. They withdrew an EGM call over a board reshuffle last Tuesday, but Rothschild’s role as co-chairman is now seriously in doubt – just a week after he lost a libel action against the Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, the Olympus scandal rumbles on, with ex-chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa among former execs arrested on suspicion of their roles in the £1.1bn accounting fraud.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

Couture on the Croisette: Fashion hits

Couture on the Croisette

The best outfits from the 2012 Cannes Film Festival
Child of the revolution: the Burmese family that democracy brought back together

Home of the free

The Burmese family that democracy brought back together
Cannes review: Canine accolade and Hitler's return are high spots amid the gloom

Cannes review

Frocks, canine accolade and Hitler's return
Robert Fisk: The going price of getting away with murder... would $33m be enough?

The going price of getting away with murder

Robert Fisk: The long view
Principled Skinner rises above the fray

Principled Skinner rises above the fray

Andy McSmith meets Dennis Skinner
Patrick Cockburn: I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria

Patrick Cockburn

I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria
Hardeep Singh Kohli: For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love

Hardeep Singh Kohli

For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love
Christian Louboutin: 'I don't think comfort equals happiness'

Christian Louboutin interview

'I don't think comfort equals happiness'
Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Hollywood's home to the A-list celebrates 100 years of discreet luxury
Rupert Cornwell: Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky
The secret life of the red carpet

The secret life of the red carpet

As Cannes reaches its climax with the Palme d'Or and the celebrities gather in London for the Baftas tonight, Kate Youde and Jack Dean investigate the real star of the show
It's not easy being Professor Green: The rapper, the heiress and a drama made in Chelsea...

It's not easy being Professor Green

The rapper, the heiress and a drama made in Chelsea...
Hardcore, hard-wired: How the prevalence of porn is changing our everyday lives

How porn is changing our lives

It's everywhere - from pop videos to fashion magazines to the theatrical stage.
River Phoenix: the final reel

River Phoenix: the final reel

Twenty years after the actor's death, his last film is to be released
Facebook: The shares shenanigans

Facebook: The shares shenanigans

Investors are crying foul over the huge losses they incurred when the social network site floated on the stock market last week