Business week in review

Businessday.co.nz wraps up the big, the small and the quirky business news of the week.

Rich listers, rate rises and dodgy Aussie airlines were all popular business reads this week.

The big news of the week was no surprise - the Reserve Bank hiked the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 3 percent.  But the increase doesn't necessarily spell doom and gloom for homeowners, with some pundits saying that fixed rate home loans could actually fall.

NBR's latest rich list was published this week - with a couple of notable omissions. Property developer and soccer saviour Terry Serepisos and South Canterbury Finance's Alan Hubbard both failed to make the cut. Self-made billionaire Graeme Hart once again topped the list with an estimated wealth of $5.5 billion.

The paypackets of international bigwigs also came under scrutiny. Oracle founder Larry Ellison was the highest paid executive in the world over the past decade, according to a report in the Wall St Journal, raking in US$1.84 billion ($2.51 billion) in compensation.

Another international CEO was in the spotlight last week. BP boss Tony Hayward is 'stepping down'.  He will be replaced by another BP executive, Bob Dudley, who will step into the breach in October to deal with angry shareholders, politicians and activists. Hayward will remain within the BP family, but will be exiled to Russia to work on a joint venture. 

Back home, a tax stoush captured the imagination of our readers. Former Securitibank boss John George Russell is continuing a lengthy battle with the IRD, appealing against a huge tax assessment that says he owes $138 million in back taxes and penalties.

Telecom finally managed to offload part of its Australian business, AAPT. The telco sold AAPT's consumer division to iiNet for A$60 million ($75 million) and also sold AAPT's 18.2 per cent stake in iiNet for A$70 million.

Qantas came under fire this week, with its pilots alleging it set up a 'sham' airline in New Zealand, simply to try to avoid paying Australian rates. Pilots at the NZ subsidiary, Jetconnect, are paid up to 33 per cent less than their Australian-based counterparts and do not receive the same superannuation entitlements.

Email may have overtaken traditional mail as a communication tool, but NZ Post's announcement that the price of stamps is rising to 60c captured readers' attention.

American fraudsters were in the headlines again. Disgraced money manager Kenneth Starr - who ripped off US celebrities and rich New Yorkers to the tune of around US$59 million ($86 million) - is seeking bail.

Meanwhile, there was more bad news for former clients of Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff. The trustee of Madoff's funds is trying to 'claw back' some of the pilfered billions, and may sue around 1000 former clients who he believes made a profit. Madoff's family are also in the firing line, facing lawsuits accusing them of  of taking nearly US$200 million ($278 million) of investor cash to fund "lavish lifestyles."

Check out our finance diary to see what's coming up next week, and if you want to test how much of last week's business news you remember, test yourself with our business trivia quiz.

- © Fairfax NZ News