Santa's Naughty Spreadsheet

The business world kept chugging along with the festive season fast approaching but when it came to the naughty or nice list it seems there was an oversupply of naughty this week.

We begin with the Fed raising interest rates due to an improving American economy for the first time in a long time showing promise. Alas things only get worse from here onwards after it was discovered that government agencies had spent a whopping $4.4billion to promote themselves under the Obama administration. But it wasn't just organizations in the news, individuals made headlines with a security guard being arrested for stealing $5million worth of diamonds after they were accidentally thrown out and Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer on the hot seat for a lavish $7million Great Gatsby inspired party even with news of major restructuring at the business. But at the top of the naughty list was the Pharmaceutical CEO who made headlines earlier in the year for raising the prices of AIDS drugs. Martin Shkreli was arrested this week by the FBI for running a ponzi scheme and securities fraud.

What Happened? 2013 Business News

The business world had some nervous moments with politicians getting in the way and wars at breaking point but the always innovative tech world made sure money was made.

Tech world keeps ticking

Bitcoin, the infamous decentralized virtual currency, had a bumpy year with wild swings in it's value. Unfortunately it also suffered a dramatic set back when the Chinese government banned it's use.

Twitter finally made it's debut on the stock market with it's IPO. It wasn't all smooth sailing with the stock taking a tumble after a warning it was overvalued.

Amazon had huge sales come Christmas and gained even more attention with it's crazy drone delivery plan.

Apple released the next generation of iPhones instantly invalidating all previous models having their legions of fans waiting in line to upgrade.

Government, can't live with them...

The business world held it's breath as the US edged closer to defaulting on it's obligations. Eventually the US government closed for business when Republicans refused a budget bill in an attempt to delay Obamacare resulting in nation wide shutdown.

After pumping billions into the economy during the recent recession the Fed's tapering had markets a buzz.

The earlier NSA revelations trickled down to business with telecoms giants admitting to their part in providing the government with access to phone records of millions. Even big tech companies had co-operated from Google to Yahoo and Microsoft.

Bad (for) business?

BP has been trying to cut it's losses from it's oil clean up fines requesting proof of losses which was later turned down by the courts.

Sometimes all it takes is one employee to cause headaches, case in point IAC Communications Director Justine Sacco sending a racist tweet before hoping on a plane to Africa. She was later fired.

The big banks paid for their blunders with JP Morgan paying $13billion in fines for it's toxic mortgages part.

A garment factory collapse killing 175 people in Bangladesh and a fire in a 10 story building raised questions about the west's growing desire for cheap goods.