The dastardly Mr. Deedes
New York today hosts the saudi-Us CEO Forum, which will be attended by self-assured JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon and saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin salman. I’m told His Highness, 32, and his bulging entourage have descended en masse upon The Plaza, resulting in all guests being booted over to another hotel. One wails: ‘Even a couple getting married there last weekend were then told they couldn’t stay any more.’ The Plaza’s owned by Prince alwaleed bin Talal, 63, whom the Crown Prince recently detained for 83 days during an anti-corruption drive. Apropos Dimon, his mammoth £19.9m pay packet this year includes a £34,000 payment for ‘residential and related security’. Could that be his bodyguard’s salary? Dimon, 62, previously advertised on Linkedin for an ‘Executive Protection Specialist’. Qualifications required: Ten years’ experience in law enforcement plus defensive and reactive skills. Bargain Booze owner Conviviality suspended trading in its shares after revealing a £30m tax bill. Its dividend has been cancelled, hapless £966,000-a-year chief executive Diana Hunter, 50, has gone. To cap it all, it’s in danger of going bust after issuing its third profit warning in a month. Yet it was nominated for speciality retailer of the Year at last week’s retail Week awards. Eh? Richard Caring’s opulently refurbished members’ club, Annabel’s in Mayfair, is quite the high- roller’s playground. Both former M&S chief Lord Rose, 69, and his rakish successor Marc Bolland, 58, dined there on Friday night. As did moneybags ex-Credit Suisse boss Russell Chambers, 56. Unlikeliest sighting thus far: Nobby hedge funder Crispin Odey, 59, with one of the Candy brothers. What could they be plotting? Google’s tedious peddling of its cuddly image continues. It plans to install gender neutral lavatories in its £1bn king’s Cross offices, which a company source tells Financial News is part of the firm’s overall commitment to ‘expanding gender neutral facilities’. Pity Google and its tricksy accountants can’t show greater commitment to expanding its tax bill.