Biz Watch

Formula One
Around and Around and Around They Go
in formula one motor racing, intriguing twists and turns often take place far from the racetrack. Last week, some of the sport’s biggest players — which include Renault, BMW and Fiat — threatened to set up a rival world championship to take off in 2008 when their current Formula One obligations expire. The car-makers were said to be concerned that Kirch, the German broadcasting giant that recently assumed control of Formula One’s broadcasting and commercial rights in conjunction with EM.TV, would take the races off terrestrial TV and put them into the pay-TV arena. If the carmakers were posturing to gain a competitive advantage, it seems to have worked — by week’s end, Kirch had said that Formula One racing would remain on free TV. In addition, Kirch said it could yet reach an agreement with the carmakers that would give them a share of the sport’s rights under the current structure. But even as the two groups issued their statements, Formula One’s formidable patriarch, Bernie Ecclestone, continued to watch from the shadows. In a sport that generates $7.5 billion in annual revenue, the competi-tion is always intense.

Start-up of the Week
Make Time for Yourself
Ever wanted to design your own watch? Log on to the Domino Watch website (www.domino-watch.ch) and you can. Eric von Schulthess, ceo of ITS Inter-Time Services in Grenchen, Switzerland, came up with the idea as a way to keep his corporate and promotional watch business afloat in face of fierce Asian competition. “We had to offer something new, different and attractive,” he says. “So we put the components on the Internet and let the customers design their own watches.” To make your own watch, choose from among 15 basic models and then customize it with one of 14 movements. The same selection process continues for the case, dial and other components, all the way to the choice of packaging. A click on the “submit” button sends the order and the watch is assembled. Prices range from $20 to $130 and all watches come with a 10-year warranty and a “Swiss-made” label. There is a minimum purchase of 10 watches, but starting this summer Domino will begin taking single orders.

The Bourse

Not So Mickey-Mouse
A U.S. federal mediator has ruled that employees at Disney World in Florida should be paid for time spent getting into and out of a costume or uniform. Disney faces hefty claims for back pay from 3,000 workers.
First to Finnish
Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has topped French business school INSEAD’s list of the world’s most effective companies. Other high scorers are Renault and BNP Paribas.
Confidence Trick
While its rivals issue profit warnings, German software giant SAP forecast 20% growth in sales in the first half of the year and announced an alliance with Yahoo to develop corporate websites. Shares rose 8%.
Working Up a Thirst
Labor unions voted to strike over a planned packaging-plant closure at Irish brewer Guinness, which produces 4 million pints of its famous dark stout a day.

Indicators

That’s Oil, Folks
The owners of a struggling service station in Alabama sued opec for conspiring to fix the price of oil — and won. Didn’t anyone tell them that opec was created, and openly exists, for that very reason? The ruling is virtually unenforceable.
Off the Menu
When investment banks tell employees to tighten their belts, it doesn’t mean taking a vow of poverty. Staff at Credit Suisse First Boston have been asked to keep celebratory dinners below $10,000, while Goldman Sachs has cut back on free fruit, first-class travel and taxis home.
Cold Turkey
When a country’s going through a financial crisis, who knows which sectors will be the worst hit? In Turkey, it’s the shoe-making industry, where 300,000 workers — 75% of the sector’s workforce — have lost their jobs since the lira was devalued in late February.
Entangled Wires
E.U. Ministers took a mara-thon 10 hours of intense debate to try to agree how to regulate telecoms firms, before deciding to leave regulatory power in the hands of national authorities.