:00:04. > :00:10.headlines from BBC World News. It's type for the latest financial news
:00:10. > :00:20.with World Business -- time for the latest financial news with World
:00:20. > :00:22.
:00:23. > :00:29.Business Report. Does not compute - growing anger from Dell's
:00:29. > :00:34.shareholders who say the PC-maker's buyout deal doesn't add up. Change
:00:34. > :00:44.corporate Italy's behaviour, not its laws - advice from a former PM
:00:44. > :00:44.
:00:44. > :00:50.to a future successor in an Hello and welcome. You're with
:00:50. > :00:54.World Business Report. Also to come - Amazon making bad headlines in
:00:54. > :00:59.Europe again. We look at why it's had to sever its ties with a German
:00:59. > :01:04.security company. First, some years ago Michael Dell offered Apple's
:01:04. > :01:09.founder, Steve Jobs, some advice - shut down the company and give the
:01:09. > :01:14.money back to shareholders. At the time Apple was in trouble and its
:01:14. > :01:19.share prices had plummeted. Now the tables have turned. Mr Dell is
:01:19. > :01:22.offering to give money back to shareholders and turn itback into a
:01:22. > :01:29.private company. So today's earnings report could be its last.
:01:29. > :01:33.But not everyone is convinced by the offer. This is what a personal
:01:33. > :01:39.computer looks like 25 years ago when Dell first got into the
:01:39. > :01:43.business. Since then, much has changed. Tablets and mobile devices
:01:43. > :01:48.have become more sophisticated and more popular. Take a look at the
:01:48. > :01:53.Dell stock. You can see it's really been on decline over the last year.
:01:53. > :01:57.That's because there's just not as much demand for a personal computer.
:01:57. > :02:01.Shareholders aren't exactly happy with the proposed deal either,
:02:01. > :02:06.saying it doesn't reflect the actual value of the company.
:02:06. > :02:10.they vote down the deal, we go back to the status quo. They have turned
:02:10. > :02:14.down, they have not approved the merger agreement. You need the
:02:14. > :02:19.approval to go forward with the transaction. By taking the company
:02:19. > :02:23.private, founder and CEO Michael Dell wants to change it from being
:02:23. > :02:28.primarily a computer-making business to a full-service IT
:02:28. > :02:31.company, or possibly something more. Ultimately, I don't think he would
:02:31. > :02:38.be taking the company private because his name is on the computer
:02:38. > :02:42.and on the door. I think he has a real plan and that's why. He's
:02:42. > :02:46.opportunistic too. At this point he's happy the stock is created and
:02:46. > :02:50.he'll be glad to take it off shareholders' hands at a decent
:02:50. > :02:54.price. The vote on the buyout isn't going to happen for another several
:02:54. > :03:04.months, leaving some to wonder whether shareholders are making
:03:04. > :03:05.
:03:05. > :03:09.noise now as a way to get more money out of the Dell. Bureaucracy,
:03:09. > :03:14.corruption and tax evasion are the biggest ocisticles to investing in
:03:14. > :03:18.Italy - that's the view of Romano Prodi. He should know. Italy's
:03:18. > :03:23.former PM says the country needs a change in behaviour, rather than
:03:23. > :03:28.more changes to the law. Mr Prodi told our Europe business
:03:28. > :03:33.correspondent that he hoped a new government would herald a new
:03:33. > :03:38.progressive culture in business. Romano Prodi has direct and bitter-
:03:38. > :03:42.sweet experience of trying to rebuild Italy's economy. His
:03:42. > :03:47.government ended after two years in 2008. Now days before the polls, he
:03:47. > :03:51.says the priority is to step up the fight against red tape and
:03:51. > :03:54.criminality. President Prodi, you've been following the campaign
:03:55. > :04:00.very closely and the prospects for the new government. What reforms
:04:00. > :04:09.would you say are most important for them to pursue when they're in
:04:09. > :04:16.office? To have foreign investments fighting against criminality. There
:04:16. > :04:21.are so many choices. So when I look at business, I think, "Why invest
:04:21. > :04:31.in Italy with this problem?" The second is tax evasion. You never
:04:31. > :04:32.
:04:32. > :04:42.know how to behave. But the most important is bureaucracy. Giving
:04:42. > :04:48.
:04:48. > :04:52.permission for building in this progress. But the Monti government
:04:52. > :04:56.lost momentum towards the end. People worried the impetus for the
:04:56. > :05:04.reforms has slowed down without a real economic crisis and vested
:05:04. > :05:09.interest will head the reforms off. The Monti government was backed by
:05:09. > :05:16.three parties that held a completely different platform. We
:05:16. > :05:22.need a clear majority, not an emergency government. One complaint
:05:22. > :05:24.is that politicians are too busy trying to save the old Italy and
:05:24. > :05:34.its old companies and old professional interests and don't do
:05:34. > :05:35.
:05:35. > :05:43.enough to help a new wave of business people? One third are
:05:43. > :05:50.still without modern structure. So the politicians are obliged to
:05:50. > :05:53.reflect this in society. The former Italian PM there. Amazon sacked a
:05:53. > :05:57.security firm at the centre of a row over alleged threats and
:05:57. > :06:02.intimidation of its staff. The German Government has launched an
:06:02. > :06:09.investigation into claims of heavy- handed tactics rb discrimination
:06:09. > :06:14.and mis-- tactics, discrimination and mistreatment. Hensel hired
:06:14. > :06:18.thousands of staff from all over Europe to help with the Christmas
:06:18. > :06:23.rush. Boeing has reported to be working on a temporary solution to
:06:23. > :06:28.get its Dreamliner jets flying again. 50 planes were grounded by
:06:29. > :06:32.safety officials after a battery fire forced a plane to make an
:06:32. > :06:40.emergency landing. According to the Seattle Times, the company has come
:06:40. > :06:44.up with a plan to encase the batteries with a special steel box.
:06:44. > :06:53.The latest cyber attack to hit corporate America has left a bitter
:06:53. > :06:59.taste in the mouth of Burger King. The Twitter account hacked. The
:06:59. > :07:01.profile picture was replaced with McDonald's. Football is a
:07:01. > :07:05.multimillion-dollar global industry and where there's honest money to
:07:05. > :07:09.be made, there are people who will try and cheat the system. In Europe,
:07:09. > :07:13.the outcome of hundreds of matches may have been fixed. Officials are
:07:13. > :07:16.investigating the matter. They could look to China for lessons on
:07:16. > :07:20.how to tackle the problem. It's just completed a 3-year
:07:20. > :07:26.investigation into match-fixing there. Dozens of officials and
:07:26. > :07:34.players have been jailed. Let's speak to our correspondent now.
:07:34. > :07:41.John, tell us more about what's been going on in China? It's a
:07:41. > :07:47.long-running investigation this one. Last year we saw dozens of players,
:07:47. > :07:52.officials, referees, even jailed for their part in the match-fixing
:07:52. > :07:56.and bribery. Some prison sentences handed down in excess of 10 years.
:07:56. > :08:02.What we have today is Chinese football, now the judicial part of
:08:02. > :08:10.the investigation is over, handing out its own punishments. 33
:08:10. > :08:16.individuals given life bans from soccer. 12 clubs facing sanction,
:08:16. > :08:19.including the biggest club in this city, having its 2003 league title
:08:19. > :08:25.stripped from it. Pretty punitive action. As you say, for a long time
:08:25. > :08:28.as a result of this investigation, China was seen as typifying the
:08:28. > :08:31.dirtiest end of the business of football around the world, if you
:08:32. > :08:35.like. As a result of what we've been hearing in Europe in recent
:08:35. > :08:38.weeks, perhaps some will be thinking now they can learn
:08:38. > :08:42.something from China in terms of the way it's been cleaning out the
:08:42. > :08:47.stables here. What impact has had it on the game there? Are the
:08:47. > :08:54.stables cleaned out? It's very difficult to say. You can't doubt
:08:54. > :08:58.this has been a pretty big investigation. Nobody, no matter
:08:58. > :09:02.how senior, have been left untouched. Two former heads of the
:09:02. > :09:08.Chinese Football Association are now in prison. China's most famous
:09:08. > :09:15.referee is in prison. This has been an investigation that has certainly,
:09:15. > :09:24.in terms of the punishments handed out, been pretty severe. There is a
:09:24. > :09:29.huge amount of money in Chinese football. I think a lot of people
:09:29. > :09:32.say the real reform, the grass- roots type of reform, getting
:09:32. > :09:37.youngsters into the game and building facilities - not a lot of
:09:37. > :09:40.that is happening. It's been a pretty thorough investigation,
:09:40. > :09:44.leading to some very serious criminal sanctions. It may well be
:09:44. > :09:50.football associations around the world will be looking to China as
:09:50. > :09:57.an example. Very interesting. Thank you very much. Let's now talk you
:09:57. > :10:03.through the financial markets. The big winner today in Tokyo is
:10:03. > :10:09.Bridgestone Tyres. Its shares were up around 9% today. They reported a
:10:09. > :10:13.67% jump in net profits. They forecast higher -- forecasted
:10:13. > :10:17.higher earnings. In Australia, they had quite good news. Demand for raw