International Business

Labor woes may turn into drinking woes to the many who love to relax with a pint of Guinness stout. Workers at the St. James's Gate Brewery, where the popular beer is produced, are voting on a strike that could threaten supply of the most famous Irish brew. Workers are upset that management wants to cut 300 jobs at the plant that makes the product and voted 98% in agreement to reject those plans. Adding fuel to the fire, the union says that management is failing to even negotiate with the workers. Workers have begun voting on a plan to strike, so if you can't live without a Guinness it may be a good idea to stock up before the store shelves are bare if this comes to fruition.

The boycott of the world's most popular auction website - eBay.com - which began last week has been extended for at least another week, if not longer. Both sellers and buyers alike are boycotting the site in response to changes in eBay's feedback system and listing fees. While the boycott has been downplayed by both eBay officials and others who cite numerous failed strikes in the past, this strike is already beginning to have a major impact on the company and may force them to reconsider the changes.

According to data released by USAToday on Monday, the number of auctions on eBay have fallen 13% to just 13 million listings, down from 18 million. But there's another effect of the boycott that hasn't yet been quantified - the PayPal effect.

eBay purchased the online payment processing company in October 2002, arguably the most popular payment method for eBay auctions. So in addition to earning revenue from auctions, eBay also earns money by taking a cut of transactions processed through PayPal. With a reduction in auctions and items sold, it can be assumed that the company will also feel the effects through a reduced number of transactions at PayPal.

The original protest thread posted on eBay's discussion board is now over 209 pages long, and is growing rapidly. Scores of eBay sellers have "signed" the pledge agreeing to honor the strike, and have subsequently stopped listing new auctions, shut down their eBay stores, and have altogether ceased their activities on the site. Some have even put up virtual "closed for business" signs in their eBay stores and eBay profiles, alerting potential buyers that they will not be selling during the strike.

So where are all the sellers going? Many have relocated their listings to a site called OnlineAuction.com, which also happens to be accessible by typing in ola.com.

Offering a simple $8.00 per month flat-rate fee to list auctions, and no individual listing fees or final value assessments, OLA is a much more appealing option in light of the policy and fee changes at eBay. OLA is no small potatoes either - as of Monday, their total number of online auctions was hovering near 12 million. With eBay at 13 million and falling, the gap is closing quickly. Many eBay sellers have taken up residence here, and have begun directing buyers to their new auctions at OLA.

As far as payment processing goes, the strike also includes a boycott of PayPal. The next biggest payment processing system, which is simple to use and takes far less in fees, is Google Checkout. Users can store their payment details easily in a Google Profile, for quick and easy payments. Sellers can easily accept payments, which are directly deposited into your bank account by Google, unlike PayPal where it is held in limbo until you cash out.

Shawn Wang, the chief financial officer of the Chinese Internet search company Baidu.com, died in an accident on December 27. The accident occurred in China while Wang was on vacation over the Christmas holiday.

Baidu did not elaborate on the accident, but issued a brief statement:

"We are all completely shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic news," said Baidu Chairman and Chief Executive Robin Li.

Shawn Wang, 40, joined the Beijing based company in 2004, and helped to get Baidu listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2005.

Wang's duties as CFO will at thistime be assumed by the company's senior managers.

Warren Buffet's company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. announced their intentions to purchase a 60% share of Marmon Holdings Inc. at a price tag of $4.5 billion. The deal is expected to close sometime during the first quarter of 2008.

Marmon Holdings is a manufacturing and services group. The company has more than 125 units with products ranging from electrical wires and cables to railroad tank cards. The company was initially acquired in 1953 by Jay and Robert Pritzer when it was just a small manufacturing company based out of Ohio.

Berkshire Hathaway will acquire the remaining 40% share of Marmon Holdings over the next five to six years. The price will be based on the group's future performance.

Last year, Marmon Holdings reported an overall revenue of $7 billion, with an operating income more than tripled between 2002 and 2007, and operating margins increasing from 4.9% to 12.4% in that same period.

Gambling is a popular past-time in Spain, and the Spanish lottery market is one of the largest in the world. In fact, it is home to the world's largest Christmas draw, known as El Gordo, which amounts to 2.2 billion Euros. Nearly every bar has slot machines, and there are numerous mini-casinos all over the place. In other words, Spain is a gambler's paradise. However, with the construction of an up-and-coming new casino resort on the horizon, things are about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Spain has just announced that they are building what will be Europe's largest casino resort in the city of Zaragoza, the fifth largest Spanish metropolitan area, located about 200 miles from the capital of Madrid.

Tentatively, the casino resort is being called "Gran Escala", which in English translates to "Grand Scale." The resort will cover approximately 5,000 acres, and will include 32 hotels, a stadium, five theme parks, a conference center, and a bullring.

Development of the resort in the Los Mongeros desert region is expected to attract nearly 25 million visitors per year, and will be open for business by the end of 2008.

Instead of ripping out the offending pages like they normally do, Saudi Arabia has outright banned the latest issue of the Arabic language version of Forbes magazine. The reason the magazine is banned is an article that talked about the wealth of the King and other Arabic country leaders.

Refaat Jaafar, managing editor of Forbes Arabia, which is based out of Dubai, said "The reason was a two-page report on the wealth of 15 ruling dynasties, seven of which are Arab."

A government official speaking on the condition of anonymity told reporters, "Instead of ripping out the pages of the report, the authorities decided to ban the magazine altogether."

Officials from the Saudi government have so far not been available to comment on the ban. The report in Forbes ranked King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia third, behind the rulers of Brunei and the United Arab Emirates. Apparently, Saudis shouldn't know this kind of information.

Richard Branson, the genius behind the internationally-known Virgin brand, sold today the business that helped to launch his empire. The Virgin Group tycoon sold the Virgin Megastores music store chain in the UK and Ireland for an undisclosed sum to a management buyout team.

All of the 125 Virgin Megastores in the UK and Ireland will soon be rebranded as Zavvi, after the Zavvi Entertainment Group, the purchasers of the business.

Richard Branson founded Virgin in 1970, opening first as a mail order record company. A year later, he opened a store in London's Oxford Street. In 1979, he moved the shop to a new, bigger location, forming the Virgin Megastores' flagship store. Since then, Virgin has grown into a mega-brand, getting their hands into everything from mobile phones to airlines, and everything in between.

Anita Roddick, founder of the internationally-known cosmetics chain The Body Shop died suddenly on Monday evening after a massive brain hemorrhage at the age of 64.

Roddick's family issued a statement, explaining how she collapsed after complaining of a headache on Sunday evening:

"Gordon, Justine and Sam Roddick are very sad to announce that, after suffering a major brain hemorrhage, Anita Roddick died at 6.30 this evening at the age of 64. Mrs Roddick was admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit and her husband Gordon and two daughters, Sam and Justine, were with her when she died."

Roddick was well-known throughout the business community for not only her fine business sense, but also her passion for social change and environmental awareness.

A child of Italian migrants, Roddick opened the first Body Shop in Brighton (UK) in 1976 with the help of just a £4,000 loan. Her main ambition was to provide some income for herself and her two daughters while her husband was abroad. She decided that products should be natural, sold in reusable containers, and bear handwritten labels. And although not intentionally environmentally conscious at first, the Body Shop was going green just as a global green consciousness started to emerge.