Virgin Finally Hooks Up: Why Richard Branson Made a Deal With Delta
Look up flights to London Heathrow from New York City airports on Kayak or Travelocity for departure next week and there appear to be about 400 non-stops daily, with most round trips in the $1,300 to $1,700 range. The number of flights is deceiving, though, and so is idea that there’s that much competition, because most of the departures are code-shares. A British Air flight is the same one offered by American Air and Iberia; Delta, Air France and KLM cohabit another listing, while United teams with Lufthansa. It’s the kind of market cooperation/collusion that has driven Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson up the wall for decades. But it’s also the driver behind’s Delta’s $360 million deal to acquire the 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic currently held by Singapore Airlines. Branson, the prankster-in-chief at Virgin Atlantic and myriad other businesses, has railed against BA and American in particular for trying to control competition on the valuable New York-Heathrow route, ...
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PODCAST: Europe in trouble, from the Olympic Village to Germany's rating
The 2012 Olympic Games begin in London on Friday, but already a venerable Olympic sport is underway: The Brits are arguing about the costs and benefits of the event, which set them back at least $15 billion so far. Speaking of $15 billion, China's government-controlled oil company, CNOOC, is snapping up Nexen of Canada for just as much. Nexen is big in the oil sands of Alberta and the Gulf of Mexico. And as this summer's drought shows no signs of letting up, many farmers are worried about the future of their crops -- but in other states, farmers see nothing but green.
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Slowdown worsens as China cools, Europe sinks
LONDON/SINGAPORE - Some of the world's major economies are faltering or shrinking, with Chinese factory output barely growing and powerful European manufacturing countries falling deeper into malaise, surveys showed on Friday.
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Reuters