November 8: X Factor Simon Cowell: Simon raises £19000 through charity auction. Simon Cowell, X Factor judge, collected £19000 after just donating one hour of his time through Krug Mindshare. There were other stars, including Sir Salman Rushidie, also present at the auction. But we will discuss them later as they were not of much interest.

The money has been raised for charity Children's Hospice. The innovative method was launched, aiming to raise money for charity through businessmen and women auctioning their time.

CEO of Universal Music, Lucian Grainge, bought Simon’s time.

In the industry Grainge is a rival to Sony BMG for which Simon's label Syco works for. The buzz in the industry is that Grainge paid him more he wants Simons to do business with them. It is too early to jump to any conclusion. But one thing is sure that something is cooking between them because it is far above the hourly earnings that Simon currently makes. Currently, he earns £3,400 per hour.

Another to eye the record business is X Factor another judge Cheryl Cole following her album and single chart success.

"This is not a career card, this is a platform. It's after the show that you actually prove yourself as an artist and the career kicks in." she said.

Sir Salman Rushdie, could attract only a meager £650.