Chancellor Seeks Advice

Chancellor Gordon Brown recently announced the creation of an International Business Advisory Council to advise him on "the challenges
and opportunities of globalisation". Its members are to be Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO, LVMH; Lord Browne, Group Chief Executive, BP; Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation; Dr Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO, GlaxoSmithKline; Sir Ka-shing Li, Chairman of the Board, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd; Sir Terry Leahy, CEO, Tesco; Sir John Rose, CEO, Rolls Royce; Robert Rubin, Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Citigroup Inc; Lee Scott, President and CEO, Wal-Mart; Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Group; Meg Whitman, President and CEO, eBay; and James Wolfensohn, Special Envoy for Disengagement and Former President of the World Bank.

So who are these people who will have the ear of the chancellor? Best known to the general public is probably Bill Gates of Microsoft, the world's richest man; probably also its biggest philanthropist. But also, according to the Inquirer, his company has paid out more than $9 billion in lawsuit damages.

So there is a darker side to Mr Gates. He must certainly be an expert on commercial law. Read all about it here.