06/08/2013

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:00:03. > :00:13.Manchester. They have an unassailable lead in the series with

:00:13. > :00:22.

:00:22. > :00:28.two matches to go. Now for the latest business news.

:00:28. > :00:34.Amazon boss Jeff Bezos enters the newspaper world for $250 million.

:00:34. > :00:37.Washington Post becomes his personal trophy. New Zealand's government

:00:37. > :00:47.steps up efforts to contain the fallout over the scare over

:00:47. > :00:48.

:00:48. > :00:55.contaminated products made by dairy industry giant Fonterra. Welcome to

:00:55. > :00:58.the programme. In just a minute, we will take a

:00:58. > :01:04.look at the challenges facing businessmen in Russia today, but

:01:04. > :01:12.first, another newspaper has a new owner. The founder of online

:01:12. > :01:15.retailer Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has Washington Post. For $250 million in

:01:16. > :01:21.cash, the US billionaire businessman will personally take ownership of

:01:21. > :01:25.the ailing newspaper. In a statement, he said he understood the

:01:25. > :01:32.Washington Post's critical role in Washington and says its values will

:01:32. > :01:38.not change. Jeff Bezos is a new media man buying

:01:38. > :01:41.an old media company. The founder of Amazon has agreed to purchase the

:01:41. > :01:47.Washington Post and its other printer properties in a personal

:01:47. > :01:51.capacity. He said he did not have a plan yet but in a statement, he

:01:51. > :01:56.warned that there would be change, adding that the internet is

:01:56. > :02:00.transforming almost every element of the news business, shortening news

:02:00. > :02:03.cycles, eroding long reliable revenue sources and enabling new

:02:03. > :02:10.kind of competition, some of which there are little or no newsgathering

:02:10. > :02:15.costs. The Washington Post has made its name covering the Watergate

:02:15. > :02:22.scandal. But like the rest of the industry, it has struggled. The

:02:22. > :02:29.internet has heard advertising declined. He is a very analytical

:02:29. > :02:35.person and I'm sure he is looking over the numbers. He reached out to

:02:35. > :02:42.me less than one month ago. We met at a conference face-to-face twice.

:02:42. > :02:47.We spent one hour together. He asked for time to study those numbers. We

:02:47. > :02:50.then spent another two hours together. At the end of that, he

:02:50. > :02:56.said he thought he wanted to go ahead that he and his people needed

:02:56. > :03:01.time to look over the business and understand it more thoroughly. And

:03:01. > :03:06.then he did that and we quickly reached a deal. This is the second

:03:06. > :03:13.sale of a major US newspaper in as many days. Over the weekend, the

:03:13. > :03:20.Boston Globe was sold to the owner of the baseball team, the Boston Red

:03:20. > :03:23.this news. After all, Jeff Bezos is a Silicon Valley pioneer, whose

:03:23. > :03:28.business has helped disrupt the traditional book publishing

:03:28. > :03:35.industry. Now, he is using his know-how to help rescue an old media

:03:35. > :03:39.newspaper. New Zealand's government has stepped up efforts to contain

:03:39. > :03:44.the fallout from a scare over contaminated products made by dairy

:03:44. > :03:47.industry giant Fonterra. Officials have been sent to the facilities in

:03:47. > :03:53.New Zealand and Australia to make sure that the flow of information

:03:53. > :03:59.continues. On Saturday, Fonterra said batches of product including

:03:59. > :04:03.infant formula contained a raw ingredient tainted with bacteria

:04:03. > :04:13.that can cause botulism. The New Zealand Prime Minister has promised

:04:13. > :04:14.

:04:14. > :04:21.a forensic investigation. What more information do we have on this?

:04:21. > :04:25.this point, we have been speaking with brand analysts and experts, who

:04:25. > :04:31.say that New Zealand and Fonterra are doing whatever they can to

:04:31. > :04:35.contain this botulism scare. Earlier, I spoke with one of them

:04:35. > :04:40.and he said that Fonterra's response to disgrace as has been impressive.

:04:40. > :04:46.Earlier, I also spoke with the New Zealand Trade Minister about the

:04:46. > :04:53.impact this ban will have. He says they are hoping it will not last

:04:53. > :04:58.more than a couple of weeks. There is not a precise timeframe. We are

:04:58. > :05:02.hoping it will be a matter of a week or so but we cannot be precise on

:05:02. > :05:06.that. We can only work in cooperation with the importing

:05:06. > :05:12.authorities, giving them all the information as it comes to hand, and

:05:12. > :05:16.then it will be a matter for them, not us. But I have to say that the

:05:16. > :05:21.Chinese authorities are approaching this in a responsible and

:05:21. > :05:26.professional manner and I am hopeful it will be a matter of weeks rather

:05:26. > :05:29.than a longer period of time. not just China but several other

:05:29. > :05:35.countries that have basically halted importation of dairy products from

:05:35. > :05:43.Fonterra. Basically, they are doing whatever they can to put this behind

:05:43. > :05:47.them sooner rather than later. an impressive reputation as an

:05:47. > :05:52.exporter of high-quality environmentally friendly, ethical

:05:52. > :06:02.products and so on. What sort of damage will be is due to the New

:06:02. > :06:03.

:06:03. > :06:06.Zealand economy? Dairy exports account for approximately 25% of New

:06:06. > :06:13.Zealand's export earnings and the dairy industry contributes to about

:06:13. > :06:20.7% of the country's GDP. Fonterra is the biggest company in New Zealand

:06:20. > :06:25.and is responsible for nearly 90% of According to economist, if they

:06:25. > :06:31.address this issue very quickly, this will have a very minimal impact

:06:31. > :06:36.on the New Zealand economy. They have been handling this in a very

:06:36. > :06:40.transparent manner and have basically been held accountable for

:06:40. > :06:44.all of the problems that have been happening. With this in mind and

:06:44. > :06:48.with this kind of strategy, economists said the impact will be

:06:48. > :06:57.minimal on the economy of New Zealand this year and next year.

:06:57. > :07:00.Thank you. Sony's board has reject that calls

:07:00. > :07:07.to sell off part of its entertainment unit in an unusual

:07:07. > :07:10.public offering. The company said the Lord's decision was unanimous,

:07:10. > :07:15.and that is despite calls from billionaire's investor Daniel Loeb

:07:15. > :07:19.to sell a portion of the struggling entertainment unit. A former manager

:07:19. > :07:27.at the Royal Bank of Scotland in person dated a bond salesman at the

:07:27. > :07:36.bank of the he lost his job in its property services division --

:07:36. > :07:39.impersonated. Royal Bank of Scotland says that KK Ho had not performed

:07:39. > :07:44.any regulated activity and that appropriate action was taken as soon

:07:44. > :07:51.as the impostor was detected. The central bank of Australia has cut

:07:51. > :07:55.its key benchmark interest rate by one quarter of a percent to 2.5%.

:07:55. > :07:59.This cut was widely expected and reflect how the country's economy is

:07:59. > :08:04.struggling on the back of a slowdown in China and a drop-off on the

:08:04. > :08:08.global commodity price. More confirmation that the British

:08:08. > :08:15.economy is rebounding. Retail sales have their fastest July growth in

:08:15. > :08:20.seven years. That is courtesy of the heatwave, according to the British

:08:20. > :08:24.Retail Consortium. They say that sales were up by 2.2% as consumers

:08:24. > :08:30.rushed out to buy swimwear, sandals, sun cream, beer and

:08:30. > :08:35.barbecue food. A feelgood factor driven by a series of sporting

:08:35. > :08:40.victories including Andy Murray's when at Wimbledon and the arrival of

:08:40. > :08:50.the royal baby will also help lift those retail numbers. Now for the

:08:50. > :09:21.