New billionaires, monster box office takings and the fight against ‘Deliveroo poverty pay’

Image of the week: Dignity seekers

A short few months after Deliveroo workers in Ireland held an unofficial strike over pay and conditions – saying they now had to "pedal more, to earn less" – it was the turn of the company's "riders" in the UK to stage similar protests with the support of the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB), which describes itself as the UK's leading union for precarious workers. Deliveroo, now listed on the London Stock Exchange, always insists its workers "value flexibility" above all else, but it seemed the hundreds who took to the streets with placards on Wednesday were more interested in basic employment rights, fair process for terminations, fee transparency, safety protections and earning more than "Deliveroo poverty pay".

In numbers: Monster business

$385 million

Box office takings (€324 million) for Hollywood blockbuster Godzilla vs Kong in its first fortnight of release. More than half these revenues came from China.

$32 million

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Opening weekend for the film in the US. This was about double that of Hollywood's previous biggest pandemic opening, Wonder Woman 1984, and came despite its simultaneous availability on streaming service HBO Max.

3

Rank in the global box office chart currently occupied by Godzilla vs Kong, which remains well-eclipsed by two Chinese films: Hi, Mom and Detective Chinaman 3.

Getting to know: Lara Warner

Click on the Credit Suisse link for the executive board biography of Lara Warner and you will receive a "document not found" message in multiple languages. That's because Warner was this week jettisoned from her role as chief risk and compliance officer at the Swiss bank for not living up to her name and doing anywhere near enough, well, warning. The Australian first joined Credit Suisse as an analyst in 2002 from Lehman Brothers, which seems like a great career move, and rose up the ranks, but it hasn't exactly been going so swimmingly of late. Her departure, alongside that of Credit Suisse's investment bank boss Brian Chin, follows the unveiling of a $4.7 billion loss from the implosion of Archegos Capital and also an unpleasant hit from the collapse of Greensill. Warner was reported by the Financial Times to have signed off on a $160 million bridging loan to Greensill, overruling risk managers who raised concerns. Ouch.

The list: Newbie billionaires

Some people learned how to perfect sourdough bread during lockdown, others casually became billionaires. According to the wealth trackers at Forbes magazine, a total of 493 millionaires became billionaires in the pandemic year – here are five of them.

1. Ugur Sahin. The co-founder (with his wife Ozlem Tureci) of Covid-19 vaccine producers BioNTech, of Pfizer-BioNTech fame, is one of several new healthcare billionaires.

2. Kate Wang. The founder and CEO of Chinese vaping company RLX Technology (39) got the idea for her business when she was trying to help her father stop smoking.

3. Kim Kardashian. The reality TV star's beauty and shapewear empire has pushed her into the ten-digit bracket.

4. Austin Russell. The youngest self-made billionaire to join the list, Austin Russell (26) is the founder of start-up Luminar, which makes sensors that help self-driving cars see in 3D.

5. Whitney Wolfe Herd. An initial public offering (IPO) for her dating app group Bumble saw the former Tinder executive (31) become the world's youngest female self-made billionaire. But is she happy? Probably.