Bizwatch

Searching For Billions
For the past six months, Silicon Valley has been buzzing with the prospect of tech's first blockbuster public offering since the dotcom crash: search engine juggernaut Google's IPO is expected in a couple of weeks. But Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin seem determined to spoil the party. Last week the company gave an unusually bullish official estimate of its opening share price: $108 to $135 per share, or more than 150 times annual profit per share.

Historically, most large companies average about one-seventh of that. Google watchers were split on the reason. Either Page and Brin intend to be valued as highly as

INDICATORS Crowded Skies Life In The Fast Lane Russian tycoon Nikolai Smolenski, 24, bought the high-end British sports car manufacturer TVR — 400 staff, 800 cars per year — for a reported $27 million. Smolenski plans to make the company a "global player." Overachievers U.S. authorities charged four former executives of Dutch-based food services group Ahold — two of whom pleaded guilty — with conspiring to inflate the company's earnings by around $800 million between 2000 and 2002. Top Strike Between 2000 and 2002, South Korea lost 111 days for every 1,000 workers due to strikes, according to the Bank of Korea. By contrast, the U.S. lost 56, Britain 32, Japan and Sweden one each.

longtime rival Yahoo, or they're trying to scare away one-day profiteers. "Either way," says Mark Mahaney, analyst for American Technology Research, "this is a real case of buyer beware." Not that there's much up for grabs. Only 9% of Google shares are being made available, and each of those will have one-tenth the voting rights of a share owned by Page or Brin, who are set to earn a one-day profit of up to $130 million each, and become billionaires — at least on paper. Who says the days of dotcom wealth are dead?

Much Ado About Doing Nothing
So what if the 35-hour week is holding back economic growth. Less is more, according to Corinne Maier, who praises France's laid-back work ethic in her satirical book, Bonjour Paresse (Hello Sloth: The Art and Necessity of Doing as Little as Possible at Work). Published in May in a modest initial run of 4,000 copies, Maier's essay ridicules the rigidity and bureaucracy of French management culture by urging readers to exploit it, with helpful chapters like "The Idiots You Work with" and "Why You Risk Nothing by Quitting."

Maier is an economist with the state-owned Electricité de France (EDF), and though her pamphlet doesn't mention EDF, executives at the firm are not amused. They've summoned her to an Aug. 17 hearing to examine accusations that her own job performance is not up to scratch. Maier says she won't attend; she'll be on vacation. Meanwhile, a second edition is being rushed into print. Maybe Maier can quit her day job now. — By Bruce Crumley

Music To Their Ears
The global music industry is rebounding from five years on the slide. Analysts at Merrill Lynch predict growth of 0.4% in 2005, ahead of further increases the following years. Higher CD sales and legal downloads are prompting the revival.

The Bottom Line
	This is the beginning of the end for [farm] subsidies
		CELSO AMORIM, Brazil's Foreign Minister, on the framework deal agreed between World Trade Organization members aimed at reviving the Doha round of trade negotiations