IBS

ANOTHER month, another string of victories for Google, the world’s emerging internet superpower. On Tuesday April 17th, in the latest sign that Google has the upper hand over all its rivals, Yahoo! disappointed analysts with its first quarter results: profits were down by 11% to $142m.…

By ALAN RIDING LONDON, April 17 — You might be forgiven for thinking that the London Book Fair is about books and authors — and of course in a sense it is. It is just that few books and even fewer authors are seen here. Rather, with the public excluded from the fair’s…

By MICHELINE MAYNARD FIRST there were boutique hotels — small, private, luxurious and impressive. They were expensive, but that was not an issue for the people frequenting them. Now they are settings for boutique business meetings, where executives are cosseted, achievers are…

Receiving, not giving Apr 12th 2007 | TOKYO From The Economist print editionReuters Softbank's latest reinvention, as a mobile firm, proceeds apace. But the company's ability to churn through cash has not changed AT THE height of the dotcom mania seven years ago, Softbank's stockmarket value…

Reuters  FRANÇOIS-HENRI PINAULT is defying predictions. As the son of François Pinault, one of France's richest and most controversial businessmen, he was generally assumed to be a fils à papa, the son of a powerful father whose main qualification was his surname. But since 2005, when he…

By MARK LANDLER JENA, Germany — For those seeking the elixir that has given new life to Germany’s economy, a visit to this ancient university town in the eastern part of the country would be a good place to start. Jena is booming these days, as local companies like Jenoptik,…

By ERIC DASH Citigroup has long carried the mantle as the world’s biggest bank in the world’s financial capital — big deals, big ambitions and in the last few years, big costs. Now, with expenses growing nearly twice as fast as revenue, Citigroup is intent on cutting…

"Was immer du schreibst...schreibe kurz, und sie werden es lesen,schreibe klar, und sie werden es verstehen,schreibe bildhaft, und sie werden es im Gedächtnis behalten..."Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), US-amerikanischer Journalist und Verleger

By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER BACAU, Romania — To get around the chronic labor shortages hampering this traditional textile center and in other industries across Romania, Sorin Nicolescu, who runs a clothing factory, came up with an original solution: import 800 workers from China.…

Training to Be Old By CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH AT 55, Frank Mendizabal has no immediate plan to leave his executive job at the Weyerhaeuser Company. And his finances are in good shape for when he does. But he is haunted by a statistic he heard at a company retirement planning session last…