Here is what happened in business during the week;
At a crowded hall in Manhattan, Bill Ackman, an activist hedge-fund manager, at last laid out his case alleging that Herbalife is a pyramid scheme. Mr Ackman has bet $1 billion shorting Herbalife’s shares and spent $50m investigating its marketing practices. During his presentation he compared the company to Enron and Nazis, but the “death blow” he said he would deliver failed to pack a punch; Herbalife’s share price rose by 25% by the end of the day. See article


Deutsche Bank came under pressure, after the leak of a letter, written in December by the New York Federal Reserve, criticising its accounting reports in America as “unreliable”. It is the latest instance of a big European bank falling foul of American regulators.
Credit Suisse reported a quarterly loss of SFr700m ($780m), which it put down to the $2.8 billion settlement it reached in May with American regulators for helping tax evaders.
AbbVie’s $55 billion bid for Shire was accepted by Shire’s board. The deal is the most recent example of an “inversion” takeover by an American company that reduces its taxes, and which is rousing the ire of America’s politicians. The combined firm will move to Britain; AbbVie’s acquisition could save it $8 billion in taxes, according to one estimate.

Spain’s central bank said the country’s economy grew by 0.5% in the second quarter, the fastest pace for six years. The Bank of Spain raised its forecast for GDP growth to 1.3% for this year and 2% for next.
A cloudy future
Microsoft attributed a rise in revenue in the latest quarter to its “aggressive move to the cloud”. Sales of its cloud-based services, such as Office 365 and Azure, to companies grew by 147% compared with the same three months in 2013. But the Nokia handset business that Microsoft finished acquiring in April lost money and overall net income was down, to $4.6 billion. Microsoft’s recently announced 18,000 job cuts will come mostly from its handset operations. See article
Microsoft’s patchy earnings were in stark contrast to the impressive quarterly results reported by Facebook. The growth of advertising on mobile devices helped push revenue up 61% to $2.9 billion and saw profit double to $791m. The social network added 40m users in the quarter, bringing the number of people who view it at least once a month to 1.3 billion. Its share price jumped to a new high.
Strong demand in China helped Apple report solid quarterly earnings. Revenue came in at $37.4 billion, with sales in China growing by 28%. Profit was $7.7 billion. Intriguingly, Apple’s spending on R&D leapt by 36%, leading to speculation that its forthcoming wearable device could be something spectacular. 
As a means of shoring up its defences against a potential hostile takeover bid from Rupert Murdoch, Time Warner suspended a rule that allows shareholders to call a special meeting. It has rejected an offer worth around $80 billion from Mr Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, though the media tycoon is still circling.
Smart TV
Netflix notched up 50m subscribers for the first time. Its online streaming service is doing well outside its domestic market in America and it has plans to launch soon in France and Germany. The latest quarter saw a big increase in subscribers in Brazil, possibly the result of Brazilians splashing out on internet-enabled televisions to watch the World Cup.
Tesco, the world’s second-biggest retailer, removed its chief executive after issuing another profit warning. Philip Clarke started his career at the British supermarket chain by stacking shelves at 14. During his time as boss he undertook an ambitious restructuring plan, but Tesco’s sales have suffered, squeezed by cheaper rivals such as Aldi and Lidl. His replacement is Dave Lewis, who heads Unilever’s personal-care brands. See article
Even seasoned court observers were astounded by the $23.6 billion penalty handed down by a jury in Florida against R.J. Reynolds, a big tobacco company, for hiding the health risks of cigarettes. The jury awarded the money to the widow of a chain smoker, who, she said, “really did smoke a lot”. The settlement has little chance of being upheld by an appeals court.
Toiling for the future
The week saw some innovative thinking about boosting worker productivity. Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, suggested that with ageing populations, employees would soon be working until their 70s but move to a three-day week with 11-hour days. And in Seoul, city managers said that staff could take naps to recharge their batteries. But workers delighted at the prospect of an officially sanctioned 40 winks will still have to make up the time.