Sorrell’s salary could drop as meeting looms June 10, 2012 WPP conceded for the first time this weekend, just days before the advertising giant’s general meeting, that its board could consider cutting chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell’s controversial pay package. Chairman Philip Lader said the WPP board has exercised “the best commercial judgement” and believes it is doing what is best for shareholders. But he [...]
Good marketing can be as impossible as trying to read minds June 10, 2012 THE blond haired, middle-aged PR guru slouched back in his armchair and confidently announced his “stunning” idea to me. The little girl, Madeleine, had recently disappeared in Portugal and there was massive public sympathy and frenzied press coverage. To my sensitive agent, struggling to justify his hefty monthly fees, this represented a fantastic opportunity. “A [...]
All aboard: the QM2 does the Atlantic in style June 10, 2012 LEAVING the glamorous glitzy Big Apple on a big glitzy ship felt right. Berthed in the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, the sharp-prowed Queen Mary 2 looked both huge and majestic. On our taxi ride to the terminal our driver bypassed the anti-capitalist demonstrators in Wall Street, so named for the barrier the Dutch built in the [...]
TRAVEL NOTES June 10, 2012 Extreme dining, Belgian style Join the trend for “extreme dining” with a meal at a table suspended 50 metres above the ground. The Brussels version of Dinner in the Sky is running throughout June, giving 22 diners at a time the chance to enjoy gourmet food and champagne while suspended near sites such as the [...]
New boss at Samsung as top jobs reshuffled June 7, 2012 SAMSUNG Electronics, Asia’s technology powerhouse battling Apple for smartphone supremacy, is shifting its chief executive to a new role as the family-run parent company prepares to transfer ownership control to a third generation. Choi Gee-sung, 61, will assume the new role of head of corporate strategy at Samsung Group, which presides over some 81 companies [...]
Shares in HTC plummet to a two-year low June 7, 2012 SHARES of HTC fell to their lowest intraday level in more than two years yesterday after the smartphone maker warned of lower revenues and was named in a patent lawsuit by rival Apple. The world’s fifth largest smartphone vendor, battling to regain market share from Apple and Samsung, suffered a rapid fall from grace in [...]
London’s contemporary design lustre is a reflection of its inspiring heritage June 7, 2012 THE Barbican’s new Bauhaus exhibition is full of ghosts. These early twentieth-century disciples of modernism are renowned for furniture as coolly perfect as an equation, but it is the human messiness of achievement that haunts every room. A chair that takes the breath away is posed between half-finished student exercises, invitations to parties and dozens [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 6, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Mittal reduces China steel ambitions Lakshmi Mittal has signalled a dramatic scaling back of ArcelorMittal’s ambitions to expand in China’s steel industry through an agreement to cut the company’s stake in one of the country’s top metals producers. The chairman, chief executive and main owner of the world’s biggest steelmaker had hoped to [...]
Business schools must ready students for life after emails June 6, 2012 IN THE 1990s, when I was head of communications for WWF International, I spent most of my time touring the Mediterranean. While sounding glamorous, it was tiresome and inconvenient. Email was around, but I could only read messages when physically at my computer, meaning there were long periods when I was without access. Today, businesses [...]
Sony chiefs to forgo bonuses after big loss June 5, 2012 SONY’S new boss and six other top executives will return their performance-based bonuses for the past fiscal year, the Japanese company said yesterday after posting on Friday its fourth consecutive annual loss. Chairman Sir Howard Stringer and chief executive Kazuo Hirai are among the top dogs who will not receive their bonuses, which in the [...]