What Happened? 2014 Business News

Business experienced the usual ups and downs in 2014 but it was the actions of high powered individuals that impacted entire nations.

Politics

Russia suffered severe economic sanctions for it's involvement in Crimea but it was the falling oil price, due to OPEC's decision not to cut production, that was the final blow making the most impact on Russia's oil driven economy along with the Rouple. The US government had a busy year with Ben Bernanke being grilled about the decisions leading to the AIG bailout and politics narrowly avoided another shutdown when a $1.1 trillion bill was signed at the last minute. Protests in Hong Kong's business district nearly crippled the region and ended up costing retailers millions while in South America Argentina defaulted on it's loans for a second time ignoring a US courts ruling.

In the world of taxes Frances ridiculous 75% tax on millionaires was dropped while in the States over 30,000 IRS emails previously thought lost were found regarding the accusation that the IRS was targeting individuals based on their political views. Parts of Europe implemented what was termed the Google tax in an attempt to squeeze more from foreign companies operating in Europe and finally it seems European nations really had it out for Google trying to have the internet behemoth split.

Companies

Some companies probably wished for a quicker end to the year with not one but two high profile incidents, MH370 and MH17, Malasian airlines stock took a massive knock and had to be suspended at one stage. GM was on Capital Hill due to the large number of recalls due to safety issues with their vehicles. The hacking of Sony Entertainment's network caused havoc with confidential documents being released in droves bringing speculation of possible sales of assets while a previously targeted company, Target, faced a lawsuit over last years holiday hacks that saw 110 million customer details stolen. Not everyone managed to escape their fate with more former Madoff aides heading to prison and Uber was in the spotlight after an exec wanted to snoop on a journalist to discredit her work.

It wasn't all doom and gloom with the technology world seeing Alibaba make it's grand listing with the largest tech IPO ever. Apple had an interesting year with successful new products like the iPhone 6 and it's new smart watch which isn't available just yet but it also ran into issues with an Apple employee class action lawsuit and was the unwilling participant in many "die-ins" staged in protest of police brutality. Burger King successfully acquired Canada's Tim Hortons in a move to cut it's tax exposure and minimum wages made the spotlight with Walmart claiming to do away with it.

Banks

Years after they sent the world economy into a tailspin the European Central Banks conducted a health test and found everything to be fine. However things weren't over with banks still facing billion dollar fines from the US and UK for their involvement in the Libor scandal.

JPMorgan faced a class action lawsuit over $10 billion of mortgage-backed securities and finally Barclays faced a suit by the SEC over "dark pools".

Business Battered and Bruised

It's been a relaxed week on the markets with a few big movers announcing results but with most attention on states and their business interests.

State of Business

With the recent downing of Flight MH17 the total liability of the crash could reportedly reach $1 billion, add to that the second major blow to it's brand, can Malaysian Airs survive? In related Ukrainian news Russia are having trouble selling bonds after their Ukraine adventure prompted the cancellation of the bond auction.

More nations are having a hard time with Argentina asking a US judge to put the debt payment order on hold while Puerto Rico's debt crisis could be heading for a US style bankruptcy resolution. South Korea announced a new stimulus plan to help the economy after the Ferry disaster earlier in the year slowed economic growth. In the Eurozone public debt spiked reversing the down trend when the economic crisis eased. The IMF has cut the global growth outlook taking into account weakness in both the US and China.

Saudi Arabia seems to be the only glimmer of hope as it announced it had opened it's $531 billion stock market to foreign investors for the first time.

Business Battered

A widow of a chain smoker has been awarded $23billion in damages against the second largest cigarette maker in the US, RJ Reynolds.

McDonald's didn't have a great week when it was revealed there was an issue with a supplier of meat to McDonalds in China resulting in certain items being pulled from menu's. McDonald's hasn't had much luck in Europe either with it's German profits taking a knock and the Russian consumer protection agency seeking to ban some of it's burgers and milk shakes.

Barclays employee's have said they were concerned about the "Dark Pools" before the suit was filed by the SEC. Barclays has since filed to have the suit dismissed but the SEC have instead stepped up the inverstigation.

The takeover of Time Warner by Rupert Murdocks News Corp has been bumpy with Time Warner preventing shareholders from calling meetings and as interest grows shares of Time Warner could reach $105 a share.

Technology Titans

Facebook showed critics when it's reported  profit's more than doubled thanks to mobile ads resulting in the stock going on to hit a record high and pocketing founder, Mark Zuckerberg, a cool $1.6 billion.

Apple seems pretty certain of it's future reportedly asking it's supplier to produce 80 million large screen iPhones however things weren't all great as it was revealed 18,000 Apple employee's have opened a class action lawsuit against Apple.

More tech Titans made themselves known on the stock market with Alibaba indicating it would wait till after US Labor Day to launch it's much anticipated IPO. However things weren't great for many others with Microsoft's fourth quarter earnings taking a hit after it's acquisition of Nokia and finally Amazon didn't fare to well either when it posted a $126 million loss.

Money, who's in control?

Money kept it's momentum even with government interventions, policies and preventative measures.

The people in charge

Russia's actions over Crimea have landed it in hot water with the international community who have only one hand to play... sanctions. According to the US State Department Russia was hit with "Real Economic Pain" over it's handling of Crimea. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) contacted investments firms with exposure to Russia to make sure they were properly managing risk. Initial sanctions were met with defiance with some under sanction threatening to take their business elsewhere.

The Federal Reserves chairman, Janet Yellen, hinted at raising rates shaking markets around the world.

The Justice Department reached a $1 billion settlement with Toyota over it's response to consumer concerns.

Taiwan students took over Taiwan's legislature over a trade deal with China which they fear gives mainland too much influence.

Retail Therapy

Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, has confirmed it will list in the United States aiming to rise $10billion.

Labelux, the owners of Jimmy Choo, said it may float the business for £1billion but is still in talks with investments banks.

An investigation into the recent suicide of fashion designer L'Wren Scott reveals her company was in debt of $6.5million.

Currencies

Mt.Gox managed to find 200,000 bitcoins valued at $116million in an old format digital wallet.

Bitcoin's have been used to purchase a $500,000 Villa in Bali in what is considered the largest Bitcoin purchase ever.

A new £1 coin was introduced to prevent counterfeiting and is set to be introduced in 2017.

General

Unskilled and destitute workers have become hiring targets for the decommissioning of the Fukushima nuclear plant as finding skilled labour becomes more difficult.

BP bids $41.6 million to return to drilling in the gulf after it's disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.