06/08/2013 World Business Report

Manchester. They have an unassailable lead in the series with

two matches to go. Now for the latest business news.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos enters the newspaper world for $250 million.

Washington Post becomes his personal trophy. New Zealand's government

steps up efforts to contain the fallout over the scare over

contaminated products made by dairy industry giant Fonterra. Welcome to

the programme. In just a minute, we will take a

look at the challenges facing businessmen in Russia today, but

first, another newspaper has a new owner. The founder of online

retailer Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has Washington Post. For $250 million in

cash, the US billionaire businessman will personally take ownership of

the ailing newspaper. In a statement, he said he understood the

Washington Post's critical role in Washington and says its values will

not change. Jeff Bezos is a new media man buying

an old media company. The founder of Amazon has agreed to purchase the

Washington Post and its other printer properties in a personal

capacity. He said he did not have a plan yet but in a statement, he

warned that there would be change, adding that the internet is

transforming almost every element of the news business, shortening news

cycles, eroding long reliable revenue sources and enabling new

kind of competition, some of which there are little or no newsgathering

costs. The Washington Post has made its name covering the Watergate

scandal. But like the rest of the industry, it has struggled. The

internet has heard advertising declined. He is a very analytical

person and I'm sure he is looking over the numbers. He reached out to

me less than one month ago. We met at a conference face-to-face twice.

We spent one hour together. He asked for time to study those numbers. We

then spent another two hours together. At the end of that, he

said he thought he wanted to go ahead that he and his people needed

time to look over the business and understand it more thoroughly. And

then he did that and we quickly reached a deal. This is the second

sale of a major US newspaper in as many days. Over the weekend, the

Boston Globe was sold to the owner of the baseball team, the Boston Red

this news. After all, Jeff Bezos is a Silicon Valley pioneer, whose

business has helped disrupt the traditional book publishing

industry. Now, he is using his know-how to help rescue an old media

newspaper. New Zealand's government has stepped up efforts to contain

the fallout from a scare over contaminated products made by dairy

industry giant Fonterra. Officials have been sent to the facilities in

New Zealand and Australia to make sure that the flow of information

continues. On Saturday, Fonterra said batches of product including

infant formula contained a raw ingredient tainted with bacteria

that can cause botulism. The New Zealand Prime Minister has promised

a forensic investigation. What more information do we have on this?

this point, we have been speaking with brand analysts and experts, who

say that New Zealand and Fonterra are doing whatever they can to

contain this botulism scare. Earlier, I spoke with one of them

and he said that Fonterra's response to disgrace as has been impressive.

Earlier, I also spoke with the New Zealand Trade Minister about the

impact this ban will have. He says they are hoping it will not last

more than a couple of weeks. There is not a precise timeframe. We are

hoping it will be a matter of a week or so but we cannot be precise on

that. We can only work in cooperation with the importing

authorities, giving them all the information as it comes to hand, and

then it will be a matter for them, not us. But I have to say that the

Chinese authorities are approaching this in a responsible and

professional manner and I am hopeful it will be a matter of weeks rather

than a longer period of time. not just China but several other

countries that have basically halted importation of dairy products from

Fonterra. Basically, they are doing whatever they can to put this behind

them sooner rather than later. an impressive reputation as an

exporter of high-quality environmentally friendly, ethical

products and so on. What sort of damage will be is due to the New

Zealand economy? Dairy exports account for approximately 25% of New

Zealand's export earnings and the dairy industry contributes to about

7% of the country's GDP. Fonterra is the biggest company in New Zealand

and is responsible for nearly 90% of According to economist, if they

address this issue very quickly, this will have a very minimal impact

on the New Zealand economy. They have been handling this in a very

transparent manner and have basically been held accountable for

all of the problems that have been happening. With this in mind and

with this kind of strategy, economists said the impact will be

minimal on the economy of New Zealand this year and next year.

Thank you. Sony's board has reject that calls

to sell off part of its entertainment unit in an unusual

public offering. The company said the Lord's decision was unanimous,

and that is despite calls from billionaire's investor Daniel Loeb

to sell a portion of the struggling entertainment unit. A former manager

at the Royal Bank of Scotland in person dated a bond salesman at the

bank of the he lost his job in its property services division --

impersonated. Royal Bank of Scotland says that KK Ho had not performed

any regulated activity and that appropriate action was taken as soon

as the impostor was detected. The central bank of Australia has cut

its key benchmark interest rate by one quarter of a percent to 2.5%.

This cut was widely expected and reflect how the country's economy is

struggling on the back of a slowdown in China and a drop-off on the

global commodity price. More confirmation that the British

economy is rebounding. Retail sales have their fastest July growth in

seven years. That is courtesy of the heatwave, according to the British

Retail Consortium. They say that sales were up by 2.2% as consumers

rushed out to buy swimwear, sandals, sun cream, beer and

barbecue food. A feelgood factor driven by a series of sporting

victories including Andy Murray's when at Wimbledon and the arrival of

the royal baby will also help lift those retail numbers. Now for the