Compiled by Laura Slattery.
THE NUMBERS €40 million: The amount spent by Irish advertisers online last year.
€70 million: The price tag for fashion retailer A-Wear, sold by Brown Thomas to an MBO group backed by private equity company Alchemy Partners
€12.9 billion: Sum in euro that Canadian publisher Thomson is prepared to pay for Reuters to create the world's biggest news and financial data company, to be known as Thomson-Reuters.
16-1: Odds quoted by Betfair earlier this week that the European Central Bank would raise interest rates immediately by a quarter percentage point after their meeting in Dublin yesterday. They didn't.
QUOTE of the WEEK: When we gave independence to the ECB, we did it so politicians would not meddle with interest rate decisions."
Greek finance minister George Alogoskoufis is one of several EU finance ministers to express alarm at incoming French president Nicolas Sarkozy's desire to make the European Central Bank more open to influence by politicians.
GOOD WEEK
C&C
The Magners effect has helped the drinks group to a 77 per cent rise in operating profits, according to results published this week.
Mortgage holders
The European Central Bank granted them some respite yesterday by leaving interest rates alone - until June.
American International Group (AIG)
The finance giant sees their £56.5 million deal to have its brand emblazoned on Manchester United football shirts rewarded with a Premiership title in the first year of a four-year contract.
BAD WEEK
Audio cassette lovers
The old 60-minute and 90-minute tape format might not have a legion of die-hard sound quality enthusiasts like vinyl, but the decision by Currys to stop stocking them should at least be mourned by a few nostalgic Walkman era joggers.
Qantas
The Australian airline was left facing the aftermath of the collapse of buyout talks with a consortium led by Macquarie Bank.
Stock market integrity
Suspicious trading connected to high-profile US deals is increasing, with 45 suspected cases of insider trading referred to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the first four months of 2007.
QUOTE of the WEEK 2: "I think domestic refrigeration is going to come of age."
Aga chief executive William McGrath sees a future in which food and drink can be stored below room temperature using efficient, thermally insulated cooling appliances commonly found in kitchens.
