Planet Business

Image of the week: No Supersizing

In Tokyo, Japan, McDelivery scooters are lined up outside a McDonald's store. There's just one small problem. McDonald's's Holdings Co (Japan) Ltd has embarked on the temporary measure of only offering small-sized French fries to customers, because the chain has been affected by import delays caused by a protracted labour dispute at US west coast ports. So there's strictly no supersizing, as the "emergency" 1,000 tonnes of frozen fries that have been imported by air have to last until the new year. Hey, wait a minute . . . there's such a thing as McDeliveries in Japan? Photograph: Reuters / Issei Kato

In numbers: Lastminute sale

£76 million

The sale price this week paid by travel company Bravofly Rumbo for Lastminute.com, one of the original e-commerce enterprises from the first flush of dotcom ventures in the late 1990s.

£600 million

The price that the seller, Texas-based travel technology group Sabre Holdings, paid for the company in 2005.

70 per cent

On listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2000, Lastminute.com lost this much of its flotation price within a month, with the result that it came to symbolise the dotcom boom and bust.

The lexicon: Ubering

The last thing any business wants is "to be Ubered", according to Maurice Lévy, the head of advertising giants Publicis Groupe.

“Everyone is starting to worry about being Ubered,” Lévy has told the Financial Times, in reference to car-hailing app Uber, which is attempting to derail the taxi industry. Lévy defines Ubering as “the idea that you suddenly wake up to find your legacy business gone”.

Publicis Groupe’s clients, he says, “have never been so confused or concerned about their brands or their business model”. Ouch. The fear of Ubering sounds profoundly unsettling.

Getting to know: Santa Claus

Phasing out his alternative names “St Nick” and “Father Christmas” may have helped lock down the Santa Claus brand, but when it comes to how his business model actually works, entrepreneurial children will be dubious. But is Santa really only being paid in goodwill and hospitality or is he on a retainer from the US National Security Agency?

Under the headline "Santa Claus and the Surveillance State", magazine the Atlantic this week teased out Santa's role in promoting acceptance of the concept of being watched by external authorities. He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake. Aaagghhh! No wonder the American Civil Liberties Union had fun in 2013 with a parody video entitled The NSA is Coming to Town.

The list: Cuba gear

Barack Obama has welcomed in a "new chapter" in relations between the US and Cuba, signalling that he intends to resume diplomatic relations with Havana and loose travel and trade restrictions. So which businesses stand to benefit?

1 Coca-Cola Cuba is one of only two countries where Coke doesn’t sell its drinks. (The other is North Korea.)

2 Cruise lines South Florida-based cruise company Carnival saw its shares jump 3 per cent as investors weighed up the prospect of trips to the largest country in the Caribbean.

3 Convenience food producers Cuba is a ready-made ready meal market on the US industry’s doorstep.

4 Air-conditioning companies They’re hoping to shift some units in the Cuban heat.

5 Cigars and alcohol A lifting of the trade embargo is good news for Cuban companies too, but travellers will only be able to bring back $100 worth of each – a rum deal.