These are stories Report on Business followed this week.
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Chapter 1
The tension in the room was palpable. The fan blades twirled to keep the sweat from trickling off their bodies. They'd done similar things with other people, of course, but it was never like this. This was scintillating, and they ached just from the anticipation.
Oh, yes, the bankers groaned, in their throaty way.
Yes, there, the lawyers moaned, passion mounting as they pointed to where to sign the deal.
Just hours before – really, it seemed like only minutes – the Torstar official had ripped off his suit jacket and was ready for business. The News Corp. representative, too, had removed his jacket, slowly, though, the muscles in his arms rippling, his tight shirt emphasizing his flat stomach.
In the corner of the room, on this warm spring day cooled only somewhat by the wind off the lake, stood Harlequin, arms crossed and still in shock that he wanted a divorce after 39 years.
True, he was desperate for money to pay his $160-million in debts. And, she had to remember, it was News Corp. that courted Torstar. The wandering eye wasn't his. Not at first, anyway.
But it chilled her to her very core. And obviously, he had forgotten the good times, when she was younger and more attractive, before her revenue and operating profit gave way.
She understood it, of course. It was a hard decision for him – he even said so in a statement to the press – and the $455-million was good money he so craved for his shattered industry. Which is why his hands were so lovingly stroking the paper that would seal the bargain. Intimate, really, like he used to be with her.
And she knew this had been a bad spell for him, one of his toughest. Not only had a young ace reporter bolted for his competition, but he got beat badly on a story that should have been his.
Was there any way to still save this marriage, she wondered, though she kept the sentiment private, as she did so many of her thoughts. The Voting Trust, which controlled him so tightly, could always say no. But, seduced by a dividend, that was unlikely.
(While I was inspired here by the work of Karen Foley, and her Harlequin Blaze novel Make Me Melt, she of course does this far better than I, and this is meant to be a light-hearted look at the news.)
The week in Business Briefing
- Inconvenient truth: Is Keystone XL pipeline no longer crucial?
- Cold dead hands: 13 facts about U.S. gun culture that speak volumes
- First Nations and the repugnant, racist side of pro sports
- Why 2014 could be 'Canada's year to shine' on markets
- Why so many (except the truckers and me) hate Ontario's budget
The week in Streetwise (for subscribers)
- Boyd Erman: Barrick needs a deal maker, not a deal breaker
- Tim Kiladze: Hedge funds irked by stock market benchmark comparisons
- Rachelle Younglai: Goldcorp CEO to Osisko counterpart: 'Good job'
- Tim Kiladze: With CEO search, CIBC sends encouraging message to outsiders
- Carrie Tait: U.S. energy investment banking firm opens Calgary office
The week in real estate
- Tara Perkins: Tepid spring marks start of home-buying season
- What Google searches reveal about Canada's housing market
- Buy a condo in Vancouver, help a Cambodian get a house
- Why Regina has seen the steepest home price declines this year
- Are Toronto's multiplying condos shrinking out families
The week in ROB Insight (for subscribers)
- Martin Hutchinson: New U.S. gross output metric shows merit of stimulus
- Brian Milner: Even China doesn't believe its revised global economic ranking
- Clément Gignac: Anticosti Island shale oil development could revitalize Quebec economy
- Andrew Jackson: Are we nearing 'peak women' in employment?
- David Parkinson: Bombardier cash flow needs to reverse course soon
The week's top news
- Boyd Erman: Blackstone casts its net wide for Canadian deals
- Rachelle Younglai: Gold giants' merger falls apart as Barrick-Newmont spat goes public
- Joanna Slater: Twitter struggling with mass appeal
- Barrie McKenna: Canadian companies losing ground against global competitors: Poloz
- Greg Keenan and Kim Mackrael: GM avoids spotlight in Ottawa over ignition switch recall
The week's must-reads
- Kelly Cryderman: Almost a year after the Alberta flood, housing market yet to recover
- Rachelle Younglai: Peter Munk's bittersweet goodbye to Barrick
- Marina Strauss: For Loblaw, Shoppers acquisition brings potential union headache
- Tavia Grant: Canada's wealthy take bigger slice of income pie: OECD
- Brian Milner: Why celebrity ownership isn't always the best in the business of sport