Clouds of economic recession and a stormy labour market had cast a dark shadow at the dawn of 2009.
From thousands of job losses to historic bankruptcies to Dubai debt crisis, the year had more than its share of shocks.
Still, hopes were spurred by co-ordinated global efforts to tackle the crisis and slowly stabilising employment scene.
As another new year beckons, a glimpse at some of the main economic and business developments globally of 2009.
JANUARY
- Lawsuits slapped in the US against Satyam Computer Services (now Mahindra Satyam) in the wake of accounting scandal
- Microsoft to slash 5,000 jobs
- Citigroup splits into two -- Citicorp and Citi Holdings
- For the first time in nearly 18 years, the UK slips into recession
- Certain subsidiaries of global telecom infrastructure firm Nortel Networks Corp files for bankruptcy protection
- Carol Bartz takes over as reins chief executive of Yahoo!, from its embattled founder Jerry Yang
- Italian auto maker Fiat enters into strategic alliance with Chrysler; to take 35 per cent stake in the US car maker
- The publisher of famed Reader's Digest to cut workforce
- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett buys $300 million worth bonds of high-end bike maker Harley-Davidson. Buffett to invest $2.59 billion in re-insurer Swiss Re
- US auto giant General Motors to slash 10,000 jobs in addition to pay cuts for employees Japanese electronics major Pioneer to trim 10,000 jobs
- The US Congress prohibits firms receiving government bailout funds, from hiring H1-B visa holders, including Indians, if they are replacing American workers
- Swiss bank UBS agrees to pay $780 million fine to the US related to allegations of helping Americans in tax evasion
MARCH
- The New York Times Company to raise $225 million
- Tatas-owned Jaguar Land Rover to get 27 million pounds from the UK for production of a new greener car model
- Reliance Industries' chief Mukesh Ambani becomes world's richest Indian, going past steel czar L N Mittal: Forbes
- The World Wide Web -- 'www' -- turns 20 years old
- Nokia to cut 1,700 jobs
- Norwegian telecom entity Telenor closes deal with Unitech Wireless for mobile phone services
- G-20 leaders meet in London; mulls measures to boost global economy and pledge to crackdown on tax havens, among others
- Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development publishes of tax havens
- US auto maker Chrysler files for bankruptcy
- Citigroup turns profitable in Q1 '09 after five straight quarters of losses
- Japan unveils $154 billion stimulus package
- Oracle to buy Sun Microsystems in a $7.4 billion deal
- General Motors to cut 23,000 jobs in the US
- BofA shareholders strip chairmanship of Kenneth D Lewis
MAY
- US directs 10 American banks to boost their capital by $75 billion, following the rigorous stress tests
- European Commission slaps $1.4 billion fine on chipmaker Intel for breaching anti-trust laws
- British Telecom Group likely to slash 15,000 jobs worldwide
JUNE
- US car maker General Motors files for bankruptcy
- Auto maker Chrysler comes out of bankruptcy; completes deal for alliance with Italy's Fiat.
- Apple chief Steve Jobs is recovering well after receiving a liver transplant: US hospital
- UK GDP shrinks 2.4 per cent in Q1 '09; most in 51 years.
- Wall Street trader Bernard L Madoff sentenced to 150 years in jail for swindling money worth $50 billion
- Microsoft launches search engine Bing
- Google to launch open source operating system; expected to be available in the second half of 2010
- UK financial regulator slaps $5.2 billion fine on three group firms of HSBC for loss of confidential data
- Yahoo! and Microsoft join hands for alliance in internet search and advertising space AUGUST
- US and UBS reach settlement on battle over tax evasion and bank secrecy; UBS to reveal certain American clients' details
- General Electric to pay $50 million penalty to the US market regulator to settle alleged accounting irregularities
- Embattled American insurer AIG back in black for first time in two years; posts $1.8 billion profit in Q2 '09
- France, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand exit recession
- US court asks Microsoft to pay $290 million in damages to Canada's i4i for patent violation; restrains from selling MS Word in America
- US charges 28-year-old Albert Gonzalez for stealing data of over 130 million credit, debit cards
- P&G Company to sell its global pharma business to Irish firm Warner Chilcott Plc for $3.1 billion
- Walt Disney to acquire Marvel Entertainment, known for comics of super heroes, in a $4 billion deal
SEPTEMBER
- G-20 leaders summit at Pittsburgh in the US
- Abbott Laboratories to buy pharma business of Belgium-based Solvay Group for $6.6 billion
- Xerox Corporation to acquire outsourcing entity Affiliated Computer Services for $6.4 billion
OCTOBER
- US comes out of recession; GDP expands 3.5 pc in Q3 '09
- US federal budget deficit balloons to USD 1.4 trillion, the highest since World War II
- Singapore exits recession; grows 0.8 per cent in Q3 '09
- Pfizer completes nearly $65-billion buyout of Wyeth
- US cuts pay of top executives at bailed out firms by 50%
- Billionaire Raj Rajaratnam arrested for insider trading scam
NOVEMBER
- Century-old US ender CIT Group files for bankruptcy
- Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway to acquire stake in Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp, in a $44 billion deal
- New York Attorney General files lawsuit against chip maker Intel for violating anti-monopoly rules
- Cadbury rejects 9.8 billion pounds-takeover offer from Kraft Foods
- Dubai debt crisis erupts; government-owned conglomerate Dubai World seeks time to repay debts of nearly $60 billion
DECEMBER
- Europe emerges out of recession; GDP in 27-nation European Union expands 0.3 per cent in Q3 '09
- US extends $700 billion bailout prog till October '10
- Japan unveils $81 billion stimulus plan
- ExxonMobil Corp to buy XTO Energy in a $41 billion
- European Union settles decade-long anti-trust dispute with Microsoft related to web browsers
- US Federal Trade Commission sue chip maker Intel for breaching anti-monopoly rules.