Airbus/Aer Lingus order

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6727493.stm

The struggling company Airbus has recieved an order for 12 of the new A350s. The company who's proposed flagship the A380 has been having problems on comstruction and this order will have certainly increased moral and the financial postion of a company who since the first view of the super jumbo has recieved nothing more than bad news.

They do need to work on getting the construction of their planes back on track as they cannot compete with other major companies, due to their majo losses on the construction of their aircraft.

Universal take over of BMG

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6680573.stm

This story is farily old but I found it interesting.

Universals take over bid for BMG ha been given the go ahead by EU. The now super companies moved will have benefitted them greatly. They now own a massive part of the music publishing market and they will be able to push other companies out of business if they use their advantagge to the best of their aility.

new itunes competitor

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6662439.stm
Amazon have announced they are to bring out a new mp3 online music store, that sells music compatible to any music player. This could prove to be a serious competitor to itunes as Amazon will be at a similar price and all its music will be DRM free.
The itunes store is currently adding music which is available for ipods and for other players (at a slightly higher pricce to the ipod versions), but much of it's music is still to be offered with this.
Amazon will also have a huge advantage of having huge numbers of record labels from the beginning, giving them a large base of traacks to start up on.

New technology, new coal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6655043.stm

New technology is being developed has been heralded as the thing to get us out of our carbon emissions problem. Coal, which is our main source of energy, is the fuel that this can be used for. Lthough this does not sort ou the problem of diminishing supplies of coal and other fossil fuels this will be very good in the worlds fight against carbon emissions. This will be especially good if China uses the technology because of the statistic that a new coal fireed power station is made everyday and the amount of resources it is the subcontinent is using.

BAE buying US armour company

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6632613.stm

BAE has put in a $4.5bn takeoveer offer for an American military vehicle and armour company. This is a good oportunity for BAE to increase its powers in this sector and increase its foothold in america with hopefully some more American defense contracts to follow. They would also become a more respected company as they would have a big part in the American contracts and would be respected for that.

Toyota the largest carmaker in the world

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6586679.stm

Toyota has been declared the worlds largest car company. Under GM the company has grown leaps and bounds and I'm not supprised with it's great progress.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6586579.stm Toyota's rival, Nissan, is due to cut 1500 jobs in Japan, (where the company is based) during shrinking sales in the homeland. This is probably a good move by toyota as they will be able to get even cheaper production in nearby korea and china, although they may loose more sales and support from japan due to loss of jobs.

New BMW assembly plant

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6505987.stm

BMWs new assemblly plant could be a great opportunity for them as they will save money through building the cars in a counrty with such cheap labour. Compared to factories in the UK they will be able to get a better price for their vehicles that are made there giving them a better competitiveness against their main rivals audi and mercedes.

The only problem this may cause is the extra import costs for the long journey and expensive insurance.

Overall I think this is a good advance by BMW as it will increase employement and have a good affect on BMWs prices/profits