Elizabeth Knight

Smoke and mirrors trick with resources tax

Elizabeth Knight It's just as well the Gillard government changed the name of the resources super profit tax to a mineral resources rent tax - it's the only real recognition by the government that this new tax impost...

Elizabeth Knight

Reitzer cuts a deal as South Africans retreat

Elizabeth Knight In the world of commerce, an adversarial relationship can be turned around with a deal that makes both parties money.

Elizabeth Knight

Revised tax may not help small miners

Elizabeth Knight In the final few days of Kevin Rudd's prime ministership, he finally came to grips with the fact that he would have to do more than cut a deal with a small section of the mining industry (the coal...

Elizabeth Knight

Compromise manoeuvre will divide and conquer

Elizabeth Knight Any resource tax deal between Canberra and the big miners will create a playing field that is less than level.

Elizabeth Knight

It's Mac on the tarmac, checking out his options

Elizabeth Knight It's a fair bet that Australian business has not seen the last of Mark McInnes, the man once hailed as one of the country's best retailers who fell from grace and left David Jones under a cloud of...

I can choose my destiny, I can make a change

Elizabeth Knight The boss of David Jones has taken over at a traumatic time, writes Elizabeth Knight.

Elizabeth Knight

Super tax is dead, long live the tax

Elizabeth Knight The resources super tax as we know it will now be laid to rest. Sure our new Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, will not call it like this, because up until yesterday she was a vocal supporter, and it...

Elizabeth Knight

Bad timing saw off Perpetual boss

Elizabeth Knight If one were to tally a scorecard for Perpetual's chief executive, David Deverall, it probably would not be a result that he would want on his resume.

Elizabeth Knight

Perpetual delivers next blow to Savage

Elizabeth Knight It's been tough days for Bob Savage who has lost both CEOs of the companies he chairs. But shareholders may be mourning the loss at the top of DJ's more than at Perpetual.

Elizabeth Knight

Elders falters as boys from the bush desert

Elizabeth Knight ''I know we are getting a reputation as being a company that only has bad news, but unfortunately we are where we are.''

Floodgates have been opened

Elizabeth Knight THE scandal that has rocked David Jones is rare in the business world - not because senior managers are cleanskins when it comes to involvements with their staff but because the infractions are...

A rapid rise through the ranks of retailing

Elizabeth Knight ONLY a week ago, Paul Zahra was almost unknown to anyone other than a smattering of department store retail managers.

Elizabeth Knight

Judge's ruling is good news for online bookies

Elizabeth Knight There's no point in more renovations to the house of gambling- a new start is needed to level the playing field.

Elizabeth Knight

So the online bookies won? Don't bet on it

Elizabeth Knight The trouble with designing a tax and regulatory regime for any industry is that it is usually based on a snapshot of how the industry looked at a particular time.

Elizabeth Knight

Divide and rule will not win this battle

Elizabeth Knight Kevin Rudd appears to have realised that he has to finesse the mining super profits tax sufficiently to get some miners on side. It will be a process of divide and conquer.

Elizabeth Knight

Risk-averse Murdoch works his cash harder

Elizabeth Knight BSkyB's minority shareholders are wary of the excessive influence of the family.

Elizabeth Knight

Extra, extra: Sun King gets more risk averse

Elizabeth Knight When Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has cash burning a hole in its bank account, it's always a fair bet that there will be plenty of debate among minority shareholders about where it should be...

Elizabeth Knight

Professional investor or gullible cipher?

Elizabeth Knight We all know about copycat criminals, but there are also copycat litigants - those that piggyback established legal actions and allege they have been wronged by the same perpetrators.

Elizabeth Knight

Timberwolf a howler

Elizabeth Knight It was a vehicle that held subprime home loan securities - and one in which BYAFM ultimately invested.

Elizabeth Knight

Rudd takes the fight to his opponents

Elizabeth Knight The corporate circus which bills the debate on the resources super profits tax as its main attraction moved to Perth this week, where the public got a first-hand view of the stoush between the...