Battery breakdown

Sony announced operating losses for the second quarter as the consumer electronics giant began to absorb the cost of recalling several million of its lithium-ion batteries. The company announced an operating loss of ¥21 billion (US$178 million) for the quarter ending 30 September, after taking a ¥51.2-billion charge for the recall, which has been undertaken because of a small risk that the batteries will catch fire. Analysts expressed concern that the recall is taking some of the shine off Sony's sharp image as a premium brand.

Activist reigns

A frustrated investor has taken over as chairman of ImClone Systems, the one-time biotech star that has enjoyed a rocky ride since its founder, Samuel Waksal, was ousted for insider-trading in 2002. Carl Ichan, a billionaire with no biotechnology experience, took over on 24 October, and three board directors and the interim chief executive, Joseph Fischer, departed. The New York company's main product is the cancer drug Erbitux, which is facing competition from Vectibix, a rival compound made by Amgen. Ichan says he'll concentrate on getting ImClone's marketing partner, Bristol-Myers Squibb, to sell the drug more effectively.

Nuclear fallout

The UK government said it is abandoning plans to privatize the British Nuclear Group, its nuclear clean-up operation, as a going concern. The group is now likely to be broken up and sold in small parts, trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling said. The change of plan came when it emerged that likely bidders for the group were likely to break it up and sell off its components, according to government officials. These operations should flourish: the projected cost of cleaning up Britain's nuclear complex is now £65 billion ($122 billion).