Business News Online

AP Photo A protestor wearing a Rupert Murdoch mask is photographed outside parliament in London Tuesday.

LONDON — Summoned by British lawmakers Tuesday to account for a phone hacking and bribery scandal, Rupert Murdoch said he was humbled and ashamed but accepted no personal responsibility, insisting he was at fault only for trusting the wrong people at a now-defunct tabloid that made up a tiny portion of his vast media empire.

The 80-year-old media tycoon endured a three-hour grilling from lawmakers and escaped attempts to tar him with individual blame for the scandal that has rocked his empire and embroiled Britain’s top police, politicians and many journalists.

Murdoch appeared confused and flustered in the beginning of the parliamentary committee hearing, turning frequently to his son James for answers. But he regained his trademark cool and confidently told the committee that he wasn’t responsible for eavesdropping or bribing police. H

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In order to get the best possible deal, it is important that you look at all of the available credit card offers so you can make an informed decision. One thing you can be sure of with all UK credit cards, though, is the positive payment hierarchy. This is something that credit card companies are required to comply with by law and it has benefits for credit card customers. This article takes you through what it is and what it means for you.

The positive payment hierarchy is a credit card payment scheme that came into effect on 4^th January 2011 following a consultation with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The scheme requires credit card companies to pay off those debts that are charged at the highest rate of interest before moving onto debts with a lower rate of interest. Read more…

Apple Inc shares flirted with a record $400 on Wednesday, a day after the world’s most valuable technology company posted blockbuster results and triggered a spate of brokerage upgrades.

The stock set a lifetime high as a new $999 MacBook Air and $599 “Mac mini” go on sale, the latter rivaling some of the cheaper offerings from Dell Inc or Hewlett-Packard Co.

Apple’s stock climbed 3.3 percent to $389.18, bringing the makers of the iPhone and iPad within shouting distance of Exxon Mobil’s market value of more than $400 billion despite the oil and gas producer raking in more than four times Apple’s annual revenue.

In coming months, Apple is expected to roll out a new iPhone, which is likely to give the world’s most valuable technology company another shot in the arm and offer a challenge to rivals such as Google Inc and Research in Motion.

The new phone could also propel Apple to leap past Exxon.

“We expect Apple will become the largest market cap company on the planet when the stock hits approximately $445 which is only about 13 percent away from aftermarket levels,” said Gleacher & Co analyst Brian Marshall, adding that this is based on the assumption that Exxon shares remain flat.

Apple shares rose to a high of $405 in after-hours trading on Tuesday after iPhone sales and strong Asian business helped Apple’s quarterly results beat Wall Street’s expectations. Read more…

Six trade unions signed a three-year wage agreement on Monday, ending a nationwide engineering sector strike, the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (Seifsa) said.

“The agreement provides for a staggered wage increase from 8% to 10% for skilled and unskilled hourly-paid employees respectively,” operations director Lucio Trentini said.

The strike began on July 4.

The National Employers Association of SA (Neasa) did not sign the agreement because its request for a lower entry-level grade for new employees was not met.

Trentini said this would be addressed by the industry policy forum (IPF), to be established as part of the agreement.

About 170 000 workers from the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the Metal and Electrical Workers’ Union, and the South African Equity Workers’ Association joined in the strike.

They demanded a wage increase of between 10% and 13%, and a ban on labour brokers.

Solidarity had threatened to join the engineering strike, but this was averted when employers in the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council reviewed their wage offer to the union last week. Read more…

Hasbro Inc , maker of Nerf foam toys and Transformers action figures, promised investors a “meaningful” rise in 2011 sales and earnings, despite missing profit estimates in the second quarter on higher costs.

The news came just days after larger rival Mattel Inc beat quarterly profit and sales estimates on strong sales of its Barbie dolls and toys based on the “Cars 2″ movie. Hasbro shares were down 0.3 percent at $41.25 in premarket trading on Monday.

Hasbro has been spending more in recent quarters to boost its overseas presence and develop its new television channel, The Hub. Read more…

Small business is down in the dumps. Just compare the attitudes shown in NFIBs survey of small business owners with the Business Roundtables survey of corporate CEOs:

Its always a little dangerous to compare one survey with another, but it sure seems that the corporate honchos are feeling better than they did before the recession, whereas small biz owners are up from the depths of the downturn, but not yet back to where they had been.

Better understanding comes (as usual) from looking at the hard numbers in financial statements.

Earnings of small business owners (including partnerships) have not yet recovered from the recession. Its possible that the gap is attributable to the substantial number of contractors among the ranks of small businesses. Nonetheless, the small business sector doesnt look so rosy. Im nervous, too, that the governments estimate of small business earnings lags actual changes in business conditions.

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