Business Diary: Betfair moves in mysterious ways

Has the online bookmaker Betfair shelled out for an expensive online-marketing strategy from some whacky agency? Its Twitter page is bizarre and appears to begenuine, judging by the expensive display advertising that accompanies its tweets. None of these is related to Betfair's trading activities and almost all are idiosyncratic to say the least. The latest Betfair tweet – "I look to the skies. Another eagle will be here soon" – is a prime example. What on earth is going on?

Adjectives give actuaries a thrill

Actuaries may be super brainy and highly paid, but they also tend to top surveys of the most boring professionals. London firm Barnett Waddingham begs to differ, however. It is crowing about the suite of meeting rooms it has just opened at its head office in central London, each of them with a quirky name. There's an "amicable" room, an "irrational" room, a "cardinal" room and even a "transcendental" room. Do you think they protest just a little too much?

Apple still taking on the world

Could Apple overtake Exxon Mobil to become the world's largest company? It is already the second-biggest business on the planet, as measured by market capitalisation, and with Apple shares now at an all-time high, it is closing in on the oil giant by the day. The gap is still $73bn (£47bn), so it will be a while yet before Apple is No 1. But in the meantime, it can console itself with the thought that were it an economy, it would be the 31st largest in the world. Its $333bn market capitalisation puts it ahead of Denmark, Hong Kong, Singapore and Israel, for example.

Fearless Dragon turns fire on Evans

Duncan Bannatyne is up to his old tricks on Twitter, sticking it to Chris Evans over his new show Famous and Fearless, which he dubs "terrible". The Dragons' Den judge, renowned for his outspokenness, is entitled to his views of course, though being a millionaire businessman doesn't make him any more qualified to pass judgement on a television show. Evans, to his credit, is taking the criticism graciously. "Appreciate honesty," he tweets back. "Duncan is a really nice bloke, just cracking out his opinion."

businessdiary@independent.co.uk