Microsoft has dropped its bid to buy Yahoo.

Negotiations fell through after the two sides failed to agree on an acceptable sale price.

Bosses at the software giant formally withdrew the offer in a letter.

Yahoo shares have lost 20% as a result.

Shareholders are fuming. It appears that Yahoo CEO Jerry yang’s ego got in the way of a deal that made good economic business sense!

 

R&B superstar Beyonce Knowles has become the new face of American Express.

The ‘Irreplaceable’ singer - who already endorses products by L’Oreal, Pepsi and McDonald’s amongst others will front the new advertising campaign for American Express. She joins the likes of actors Robert De Niro and Kate Winslet, and sports stars Tiger Woods and Venus Williams who already endorse American Express products.

Nice one Beyonce!

Santa Claus came to town today – less than 48 hours after the hottest day of the year in Britain.

Santa was helping to launch the Christmas World section of Harrods’ London store.

He travelled to Knightsbridge in a 1950s-style ice-cream van and he served refreshments to customers.

The 10,000 square foot ‘Christmas World’ section of Harrods contains festive decorations and gifts.

Its launch today marks “139 Harrods shopping days left until Christmas”.

The launch follows the sizzling 30.3C temperature recorded in the capital on Sunday – the hottest day of the UK so far this year.

Harrods usually launches its Christmas section during the summer in response to demand from visiting tourists.

What next? St. Patrick’s Day at Christmas just to be prepared!

A list of the world’s top 100 brands was published recently by BusinessWeek magazine.

Coca Cola took first place with a brand value of $65.32 billion followed on by Microsoft, IBM, GE, Nokia, Toyota and Intel.

U.S. brands dominated the list with 53 companies, followed by Germany with 10 companies, France and Japan with eight, Switzerland and the U.K. with five, and Korea and the Netherlands with three. By category, 13 automobile brands were on the list.

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