The Briefcase: Sony woes, Nama (nearly) called the C-word and Heineken frothing

EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie asks its readers to put their feet up and take a look back at all the goings-on from the week in business.

So without further ado, let’s delve deep inside The Briefcase for all the important financial news from this working week:

Need to know

Spare a thought for Sony

It has been a nightmarish few weeks for the Japanese tech firm that gave the world the Playstation and, for the retro-minded, the Walkman.

Asim Bijarani Asim Bijarani

Following last month’s hack attack which resulted in the theft of data – including unreleased films and sensitive employee details – the so-called “hermit kingdom” of North Korea emerged as the most likely suspect for the cybercrime.

While the authoritarian state denied being behind the incident to its own state-run news agency – in the same breath it praised the hacking as a “righteous deed” after a Sony comedy starring Seth Rogen, The Interview, featured a plot to assassinate leader Kim Jong-Un.

Lee Jin-man / AP/Press Association Images Lee Jin-man / AP/Press Association Images / AP/Press Association Images

Then there was the leaking of four unreleased films and one very recent release, Fury, onto file-sharing websites after the security breach.

This week started badly when Sony’s Playstation network went down on Monday morning with a group called the Lizard Squad claiming responsibility for the act.

The company reportedly hit back and tried launching a Denial of Service attack – basically using lots of computers to shut down sites with massive traffic demands – on servers hosting its leaked files.

But that wasn’t the end of Sony’s woes. Another leak from the hack surfaced in the form of private health information relating to over 30 staff and their families.

Things used to be so much simpler.

Giphy Giphy

Now you know

• Bad bank Nama was in the news for a range of reasons. First, in the wake of Irish politicians’ sudden desire to tackle the issue of homelessness, it was announced a Nama-owned hotel would be used to house some needy families. Then Independent TD Mattie McGrath gave the state agency a spray for its treatment of some constituents, producing this colourful turn of phrase: “I could have used a word beginning with C to refer to Nana but I will not use it in the House”. An Oireachtas committee was later told Nama was still chasing a widow whose farmer husband committed suicide after it brought a case against him
• A row over cheap Heineken pints in Dublin upset UK pub giant JD Wetherspoon’s applecart. The brewer pulled all its drinks from Wetherspoon’s second Irish outlet in Dún Laoghaire in apparent retaliation for the chain selling Heineken pints for €2.95 at its first venue, in Blackrock. Not to be outdone, Wetherspoon cut all the Dutch producer’s wares from its portfolio – some 926 venues

Tim Ireland / PA Wire/Press Association Images Tim Ireland / PA Wire/Press Association Images / PA Wire/Press Association Images

Now you know

• More companies were embroiled in the Luxleaks scandal after extra documents, now linking household names like the Walt Disney Company and their cosy tax deals with Luxembourg, were released. Ireland’s Revenue Commissioners are now looking at the leaked information for any relevant links back to the Republic
• Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he couldn’t foresee “any circumstances” in which junior bondholders in the collapsed Anglo Irish Bank would be repaid when its assets were finally liquidated after suggestions they might see some of their money

Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

• Irish aircraft-leasing firm Avolon made its début on the New York stock exchange only 4 years after its launch. The company has been valued at a cool $1.6 billion based on its initial share price of $20
• The economy “flatlined” over summer and early spring on the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. But Finance Minister Michael Noonan wasn’t worried (and neither were economists) with GDP still on track to meet or beat the 4.7% annual growth figure the government used for its 2015 Budget

One for the road

There’s so much internet out there it’s hard to come to grips with it all.

Take YouTube for instance – every day about 144,000 hours of video is uploaded to the sharing site. Tough to watch all those minutes.

Well this week YouTube put out its annual “rewind” – condensing all the year’s viral videos and memes into a 6 1/2 minute clip. Ice Bucket Challenge? Check. Frozen sing-along? Check.

Originally published 13 December

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