Top 10 Business Stories of 2007 and What We Had to Say
We're going to see a lot of 2007 wrap-up articles and blogs over the next couple of weeks (like our recently posted Best Productivity Tips of 2007) not to mention predictions for 2008. It's what you do in December, and we embrace it.
BusinessWeek churned out a list of the top 10 business stories of 2007, which are listed below with linkage to some BNET insights about them. (For an optimal reading experience, this blogger recommends visualizing yourself running through a field, holding hands with your iPhone personified to the tune of "Looks Like We Made It.")
1. The Mortgage Mess. Mortgage defaults rise in the U.S. and home prices fall, triggering chaos in commercial paper markets and a credit crisis that reverberates around the globe. Meanwhile, shares of homebuilders plummet as buyers are scarce and mortgage financing gets harder to obtain.
2. Toy Recalls. Spate of toy and other recalls for safety reasons raise a question about potential backlash against "Made in China" products.
3. Oil Prices. Crude oil prices march closer and closer to $100 a barrel, keeping gasoline pump prices high.
4. iPhone launch. Apple Inc., aided by introduction of iPhone and updated iPod players, sees profits and its share price soar.
5. The Fed. Chairman Ben Bernanke and his Federal Reserve policymaking colleagues cut the overnight borrowing rate twice in the second half of the year to keep the economy from falling into a recession, even as inflation fears persist.
6. Wall Street. Dow Jones Industrial Average tops 14,000 for first time, then pulls back as credit crisis intensifies.
7. Falling dollar. Markets and Bush administration mostly nonchalant as the dollar falls to record lows against the euro and other currencies.
8. Media Consolidation. Media consolidation picks up steam: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. agrees to pay $5 billion for Dow Jones, parent of the Wall Street Journal. Tribune Co. to be acquired for $8.2 billion by Sam Zell and an ESOP, who will then sell Chicago Cubs. And Thomson Corp. to take over news and data content competitor Reuters PLC in $18.4 billion cash and stock deal.
9. CEO ousters. Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'Neal oustedwith $161 million golden parachute after nation's largest brokerage firm takes $7.9 billion in charges related to mortgage meltdown. Citigroup CEO Charles Prince soon follows him out the door after bank says billions in new charges must be taken.
10. Food recalls. Food recalls multiply as e-coli and other health risks found in hamburger meat, spinach and other products.