2 Karsen names Liebke successor

Karsen, the Austrian derivatives exchange, appointed / has appointed / had

appointed Dieter Lahm to take over from Hans Liebke as chief executive. The
appointment was announced / had been announced yesterday by Deutsche Borse,
which owns / owned 50 per cent of Karsen and is seen / was seen as a move by the
exchange to develop a stronger international presence. Mr. Liebke, who has
announced / had announced his resignation from Karsen the week before, was
appointed / had been appointed to the Deutsche Borse board a few days ago.

1. The manager admitted he had overspent massively on an IT suite the business did not in fact
need.
2. Whether or not to ...........regulate health care is a divisive issue in many countries.
3. When two of our co-workers disappeared, all the boss had to say was that they’d left to pursue
other opportunities.
4. We design and manufacture ........-efficient air conditioners for industrial use.
5. The profit figures are excellent. Once again, we’ve ........performed all our rivals.
6. The ............-president of Lexton Steel Corporation is suing for 1.5 million dollars he says the
company owes him as a retirement payment.
7. Staff who never get any praise for their achievements may end up .......rating their own
abilities.
8. In the late 1990s, many countries experienced a severe economic .......turn.
9. Our company is thinking of ..............locating its headquarters from Antwerp to Bratislava.
10. Of course I can see now that Brian is an asset to our company, and I’m sorry I so badly
misjudged.
Complete the article with the verbs in brackets, using an appropriate past or present tense

ZARA ONLINE

Spanish retailer Inditex has only relatively recently given Zara customers the opportunity to buy
garments online.

The roll-out of Zara’s transactional website began (begin) in 2010 in Spain, the UK, Portugal, Italy,
Germany and France – six countries that are among the most important of the company’s 76 markets.
Of Inditex’s eight store brands only one - housewares retailer Zara Home has sold (sell) directly to
internet users until then.
Asked about the company’s late arrival to internet retailing, Pablo Isla, chief executive, said: „For us,
2010 was the right time to go online.“
Some analysts venture that Mr Isla , who made (make) Inditex the world’s largest apparel retailer by
sales since taking the helm in 2005, wanted (want) to concentrate on Saian expansion and cost controls
before turning to new sales formats.
With its focus on fashion-conscious teenagers and young people, Inditex has been using the internet
for many years to promote its various lines and is also popular on Facebook, where it has over 4.5
million fans.
Its smartphone application, which has launched (launch) at the beginning of 2009, has been
downloaded by over 2 million people.
„The internet and the world of social networking are extraordinary channels of communication which
fit perfectly with our group’s philosophy,“ said Mr Isla.
Inditex, whose brands also has included (include) Massimo Dutti and Pull and Bear, is at the vanguard
of computerised ordering and dispatching systems: in each of its 4,700 store, managers has been
providing (provide) daily updates on sales and taste trends.
However, Mr Isla said Zara, its flagship brand, was waiting (wait) for online demand to build before
launching into cyberspace.

Write the expression

1. An in-depth understanding of how a business works, how it makes money, and how strategies
and decisions impact financial, operational, and sales results. à business acumen
2. A short period of time in which someone buys a lot of things / the hurried acquisition by a
company, of goods, assets, or other companies. the hurried, and possibly spendthrift, purchase
of goods by a private individual à buying spree
3. Asset that is being sold because its owner is forced to sell it; it usually sells for below its
perceived value due to the fact that the owner is being forced to sell its à distressed assets
4. A form of private equity and a type of financing that investors provide to startup companies
and small businesses that are believed to have long-term growth potential à venture capital
5. the act of using your power or influence to get good jobs or unfair advantages for members of
your own family à nepotism
6. to become larger in size, amount or number, or to make something lager in size // become
bigger or more successful à expand

Match the expressions with their definition

1. if a company divests assets, it sells them, for example for a particular period of time that is
paid to shareholders for each share they own - divest
2. to give work, responsibility or power to someone at lower or a more local level – devolve
3. to remove or reduce the number of government controls on a particular business activity, done
to make companies work more effectively and to increase competition  - deregulate
4. the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices - fire sale
5. when borrowing money becomes difficult because banks are forced to reduce the amount they
lend - credit crunch
6. someone who starts a company, arranges business deals and takes risks in order to make a
profit - entrepreneur
7. to risk losing or harming something – jeopardise
8. something or someone that is successul because they help you succeed or deal with
problems // something belonging to an individual or a business that has value or the power to
make to earn money – asset
9. an offer by one company to buy another, or the value of this offer - outbid
10. a product that can be sold to make a profit, especially one in basics form before it has been
used or changed in an industrial process. – commodity

Drag and drop

Many believe that Barack Obama’s administration of which Mr Biden was a part, became too
enamoured with large tech firms and failed to scrutinize mergers, like Facebook’s purchase of
Instagram. This is Mr Biden’s chance at do-over The mood in Washington is “180” degrees different,
according to Luther Lowe, who runs public policy for Yelp, an internet firm that has long been
complaining about Google’s bullying of smaller rivals “It’s a really exciting time if you are a
complainant who’s hoping for government enforcement ,” he says. Congressional staffers from both
parties are now loth to take meetings with large tech companies, especially Meta (née Facebook),
perceived to be the most toxic.