Business Diary: From MySpace to NewSpace

The man who spent nine months trying to revive MySpace has admitted what many may have told him at the start: he shouldn't have bothered. In a long mea culpa, the site's ex-chief executive Michael Jones tells CNNMoney the brand was already trashed in the eyes of consumers. "We could not escape their images of animated GIFs," he says. "In the digital world, new brands are easier to create than fixing historically large brands." Which is handy – since he has just reinvented himself as an adviser to new internet brands.

Nokia's got the lovely phones

Love was in the air at Nokia's shindig in London's Docklands yesterday. As the Finnish mobile phone giant's president, Stephen Elop, proudly unveiled the offspring from its union with Microsoft, a spokeswoman came over all soppy, saying: "To make a product is an act of love." Quick as a flash, the Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi came back with the response: "That is why it takes nine months for a new product."

Mason cuts rival down to size

A bit of cheekiness from those chappies at Groupon. In the deck of slides its chief executive Andrew Mason is using to present to potential investors, ahead of its controversial flotation in the US next month, the daily deals service provides a guide to the competitive landscape. In the constellation of dozens of rivals, you have to get the magnifying glass out to find the one company that is most similar to – and closing in on – Groupon, namely LivingSocial. Diary hopes this is the start of a long and childish rivalry.

Not the sharpest of cards

Clinton Cards may have to send its new boss, Darcy Willson-Rymer, an apology card. Yesterday, the retailer still had not put the chief executive's name on its investor relations website's "meet the board" page, even though he was appointed in July, began work this month and will unveil Clintons' results today. Diary is sure this is an innocent mistake and nothing to do with Mr Willson-Rymer being the first boss from outside the firm's founding Lewin family.