business spotlight pt. 02 Flashcards
“angel” or “devil”?
“If I was to do anything, it’d be _____ investing or looking to help other young people create their own thing.”
The correct answer is: angel
“If I was to do anything, it’d be angel investing or looking to help other young people create their own thing.”
Angel investing refers to private individuals investing their own money in a project, especially in a start-up company. Such an investor is called an “angel investor” or “business angel”.
angel investor = Risikokapitalinvestor(in)
The quote is from Nick D’Aloisio, a 17-year-old who has just sold his app, Summly , to Yahoo! for several millions of dollars. His app creates machine-generated summaries of news articles. D’Aloisio programmed the app when he was revising for his school exams a few years ago. He became frustrated because he often ended up reading very long articles that didn’t contain the information he was looking for. His app summarizes the content in two or three paragraphs, saving him — and now many others — a lot of time. Yahoo! plans to use his algorithmic approach to some of their news items.
At a press conference this week, D’Aloisio said that he will be careful with his money. “I’d like to keep it safe. Bank it …. If I was to do anything it’d be angel investing or looking to help other young people, founders of companies, create their own thing,” he said. He added that he “wouldn’t be allowed” to do anything too wild.
“predatory” or “prey”?
“Microsoft believes that Google is using _____ pricing.”
The correct answer is: predatory
“Microsoft believes that Google is using predatory pricing.”
Fairsearch Europe, a group that includes Microsoft, has filed a complaint with European regulators, claiming that Google is using predatory pricing. This is a strategy whereby companies offer a product or service below cost price in order to drive competitors out of the market. Google provides the Android operating system for free. Fairsearch Europe argues that this is a “deceptive way” to dominate the search market and that it is an example of anti-competitive “predatory pricing”.
About 70 per cent of phones in Europe are powered by Android. Microsoft’s Windows Phone makes up around 5 per cent. Only Google and Microsoft provide licensed mobile operating systems. Apple and BlackBerry do not license theirs.
A predator is an animal that hunts other animals.
Prey is a small animal that is hunted and eaten. It’s also a person whom we can easily take advantage of. For example, we might talk about “easy prey” in a business context, but this has a negative meaning:
“Small investors are often easy prey for fraudsters. This is especially true of older people.”
“turned” or “showed”?
“Uli Hoeness, president of FC Bayern, ____ himself in to the tax authorities in January.”
The correct answer is: turned
“Uli Hoeness, president of FC Bayern, turned himself in to the tax authorities in January.”
If you turn yourself in (to the authorities or to the police), you admit that you have committed a crime.
German prosecutors have confirmed that they are investigating Bayern Munich’s Uli Hoeness on suspicion of tax evasion. In January, Hoeness had turned himself in to the authorities. In English, we talk about “turning yourself in” or “reporting yourself to the authorities/police”.
According to the BBC, Hoeness had declared his account to the German authorities because “he thought that a semi-amnesty was on the way, only to find, too late, that it was not”. The government had been working on a German-Swiss treaty, which would have meant that Germans with undeclared assets in Switzerland could have legitimized any unreported assets if they agreed to a withholding tax. The treaty would have guaranteed them anonymity. The opposition opposed the treaty because they rejected anonymity for tax evaders.
“knee-jerk” or “knees-up”?
“knee-jerk” or “knees-up”?
17.04.2013
The correct answer is: knee-jerk
“Commerzbank had a ___ reaction to the news that one of its bankers was involved in a sex discrimination case.”
A knee-jerk reaction or response is one that is made automatically, without much thought.
In the UK this week, a City banker has won her employment tribunal case against Commerzbank. In 2012, Latifa Bouabdillah joined Commerzbank. At the time, she was suing her previous employer, Deutsche Bank, for sex discrimination, but she didn’t tell Commerzbank about the lawsuit during the interview process. When the bank learned about it, she was immediately fired. Bouabdillah then took her case to the employment tribunal. The tribunal ruled that Commerzbank had shown a “knee-jerk reaction” to the news that she was suing a previous employer for discrimination and Bouabdillah won the case.
In September, a tribunal will decide how much compensation she should receive. Bouabdillah is seeking £13 million. She settled her suit against Deutsche Bank on confidential terms.
knees-up
A knees-up is a lively party, where people dance a lot. The expression is informal and is generally used only in the UK.
“We should have a knees-up to celebrate her winning the case.”
“breakthrough” or “breakdown”?
“Samsung says it has made an important __________ in 5G high-speed mobile technology.”
The correct answer is: breakthrough
“Samsung says it has made an important breakthrough in 5G high-speed mobile technology.”
A breakthrough is an important development or discovery, especially one that comes after a lot of hard work.
You may still be using 4G (or even 3G), but scientists and high-tech companies believe that we will all need 5G in the future. Samsung announced on the company blog that it has made an important breakthrough in its research on 5G technology. The company claims that the new technology will make it possible to transmit “massive data files including high quality digital movies practically without limitation”. Generally, 5G is not expected to be available until after 2020.
breakdown
A breakdown is a situation when something fails to work.
“The cooperation failed because of a breakdown in communication.”
It can also refer to information that has been divided into smaller parts.
“I can give you an exact breakdown of the costs at the end of the week.”
“marquee” or “tent”?”
Viagra is one of Pfizer’s _______ drugs. It brought in more than $2 billion in sales in 2012.”
The correct answer is: marquee
“Viagra is one of Pfizer’s marquee drugs. It brought in more than $2 billion in sales in 2012.”
A marquee is a low roof over the entrance of a theatre or cinema, usually with the name of the show or film written on the marquee. Used as an adjective, “marquee” means “leading” or “most important”. In the UK, a marquee is also a large tent.
This week, Pfizer, the world’s largest drug company, announced that it would now sell its erectile dysfunction (ED) drug, Viagra, directly to consumers on its website. The move is an attempt to fight the rise in sales of counterfeit ED pills. “There are almost 24 million searches a year for Viagra online,” Victor Clavelli, senior director in Pfizer’s primary care unit, said in a company statement. “By offering men with ED convenient access and a legitimate alternative to purchase Viagra online, our hope is that Pfizer will help rein in the distribution of fake ED products.” Consumers will still need a prescription, but will not have to go to a chemist or pharmacy to pick up the drug.
Traditionally, drug manufacturers do not sell their drugs directly to consumers, so this development is being watched carefully by other manufacturers — and chemists.
“fuss” or “suss”?“
Being able to ____ people out quickly is an important business skill.”
The correct answer is: suss
“Being able to suss people out quickly is an important business skill.”
If you can suss people out quickly, you can understand them and what motivates them — their mindsets, prejudices and needs — very fast.
suss sb. out = jmdm. auf den Zahn fühlen
You can “fuss about/over something” or “make a fuss about/over something” — which means you show a lot of unnecessary interest, concern or excitement over something.
“He made such a fuss when I forgot to put sugar in his coffee. Who does he think he is?”
“hands-down” or “hands-off”?”
Users hope Yahoo will take a _____ approach to Tumblr.”
The correct answer is: hands-off
“Users hope Yahoo will take a hands-off approach to Tumblr.”
If you take a “hands-off approach” to managing something, you minimalize your involvement in it or try to intervene as little as possible.
This week, Yahoo announced that it will buy Tumblr, the popular blogging platform, for $1.1 billion. Yahoo has promised that it will let Tumblr operate independently. In other words, the company will take a hands-off approach to running it.
Tumblr allows users to share text, pictures or videos over the internet. With its user-friendly format, users can set up a professional-looking blog within minutes. The site is best known for its viral memes, such as last year’s hit Texts from Hillary Clinton. Tumblr has over 100 million registered blogs but it has struggled to make money from advertising. Yahoo, however, is a giant internet company that earns most of its revenues through advertising. It hopes the acquisition will improve its internet “cred” with younger users and also tap into Tumblr’s advertising potential.
Users value Tumblr for giving them freedom over what they upload, even pornographic material. According to the BBC, some Tumblr users are now worried that they could lose that freedom. More than 70,000 users transferred their Tumblr blogs to its rival company, Wordpress, within an hour on Sunday night.
Yahoo’s chief executive Marissa Meyer has been quick to ease the worries of users. She issued a statement on Tumblr, saying they “promise not to screw it up. … We will operate Tumblr independently. … Yahoo will help Tumblr get even better, faster.”
hands-down
We use the term hands-down to describe something that happens easily.
“It was a hands-down victory for the red team.”
hands-down = mühelos
“Michael was hands-down the best candidate for the job.”
hands-down = zweifellos
