She has been described as the uks most influential black person and is chair of the countrys biggest media agency. But how tough was it for Karen Blackett to get to the top . Shelljoin us shortly. Check this out and as Barack Obamas been spotted kite surfing in the caribbean, we want to know what would you do to unwind after eight years in a toughjob . Just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. Is hanging out with Richard Branson on your bucket list . Thank you for your thoughts. Some of which we cant mention on the programme we start with President Trumps travel ban which has faced its toughest test yet. Lawyers for the Us Justice Department have been slogging it out with those for states of washington and minnesota who want the ban repealed. The appeals Courtjudges Court in San Francisco are expected to give their decision later in this week. Lets recap. President trump has been trying to temporarily ban people entering the us from seven countries. He says this is about terror and keeping our country safe. Whilst a stricter Vetting System is put in place. But as you know, there has been widespread protest against this ban. 127 companies have signed, put forward their legal arguments and you can see some of the most influence companies on the list. Apple, google, microsoft, tesla, levis. They have filed court submissions. In the documents they have argued Multinational Companies will have strong incentives to base their operations outside the United States. At the moment, many of the Companies Use a Visa Programme called h 1 b. This grants entry to 85,000 skilled foreigners a year and the Tech Industry relies heavily on this Visa Programme. There are approximately three applications for every visa. Thats granted. Thats some of the background. Rack to rachel. Moira benigson is the managing partner founder of mbs group which is an executive Recruitment Agency based here in london. One of trumps Key Campaign Pillars was about bringing jobs back to america. Are your clients concerned about this . Were working for many of those companies because we have a very big tech and Digital Division and fashion. They will become concerned. Not right now because were ina concerned. Not right now because were in a transition period. But if you look at digital and Tech Companies in particular, their top teams are very, very diverse and from all over the world. You cant hold back progress and these days particularly at the Mbs Group All Of Oui particularly at the mbs group all of our short lists are extremely balanced and come from all over the world. Theyre not particularly from one country, even though we are here in the uk. Now in terms of global recruitment, as you say, you cant hold back progress, it is a very different market, i imagine now than perhaps when you first started out when companies are drawing up their short lists, it is from more than one country, isnt it . Absolutely. So you know, in the, i would think ten yea rs so you know, in the, i would think ten years ago, if you were looking for a role in the uk, everybody would probably be from the uk. But were all connected digitally, everybody is, socially, and in the workplace and therefore, people dont look at that anymore. And we find that in our Fashion Clients and in our tech find that in our Fashion Clients and in ourtech and find that in our Fashion Clients and in our tech and digital, ceos are getting younger and younger and their world is completely different. Theyre not their world is completely different. They re not interested their world is completely different. Theyre not interested in borders. Theyre not interested in borders. They want the right people in the rightjobs, with the right teams. Moira, with this potential travel ban in the us, also with the issue of brexit, what sort of concerns are ceos are these executives that you recruit coming to you with or what is potentially shaping their decisions that wouldnt have shaped their decisions a year ago . Well, i think until, i think brexit kicked it off where the world was just becoming one place and is one place especially for very senior people and we recently were bringing over a ceo from france to the uk and he had signed his contract the day before brexit. Brexit happened. He phoned me the next day it say, will i still be welcome in the uk . It was a great shock for me and there i found myself as an immigrant telling him everything would be ok. And from the us have you any similar situations . Not yet, but recently for one of ourfashion situations . Not yet, but recently for one of our Fashion Clients, in fa ct, for one of our Fashion Clients, in fact, just going back, its generally been easier to get europeans to go to the us than the other way round. Americans are quite loathe and many dont even have passports as we know, but in this particular instance the ceo said his wife did not want to raise her children for the next four years in america and they would be extremely happy to come to europe. So i think you might see the reverse in america where they might get a brain drain. 0k. Where they might get a brain drain. Ok. Moira, thank you very much for your time this morning. A pleasure. In other news, the worlds second biggest producer of iron ore, rio tinto, has returned to profit after a 12 jump in earnings. The mining giant was given a boost by the recovery in commodity prices. Iron ore has nearly doubled in value over the last 12 months. Rio tinto raised its dividend by more than expected to 1. 70 per share. Walt disneys chief executive, bob iger, has warned that a trade war between the us and china would be bad for business. The entertainment companys boss told cnbc he was also critical of an Executive Order signed by Mrtrump Barring Migrants and refugees from several muslim countries. The Company Reported a Surprise Drop in sales to just under 14. 8 billion despite a Strong Performance from its theme parks and movie divisions which now includes the star wars franchise. Lets talk about japans softbank. It snapped up arm holdings and it has been chummying up with the United States and President Trump in particular. It is doing well in terms of profits. 7196 yearonyear rise. Whats the reaction . Now, softbank said it made 2. 63 billion for the quarter after sprint added more subscribers than expected. This was the first full quarter since softbank coming pleated a 32 billion acquisition of britains most valuable technology company, arm. We know the founder and ceo of softbank has got big, pliing plans to make the company a company with technology investments, moving away from the Telecoms Business to becoming more diversified. It has got stakes in alibaba. There is the 50 billion investment in the us that he pledged when he met with donald trump in december which would create 50,000 newjobs all of which will aim to transform softbank into a Technology Firm with a difference. So much to take in there. Thank you very much. We have heard from softbank. Weve heard from the likes of disney, general motors, for the us yesterday alone, i think 80 Companies Reported earnings that are listed on the s and p500. Earnings that are listed on the s and p 500. It is keeping traders extremely busy. This is how things went in general in asia overnight and the night before on wall street. Lets look at europe right now. So again, earnings are dominating. Weve mentioned rio tinto and rios shares up 3 in london. You can see the markets fairly flat, but weve had carlsberg out, brewing up a better profit as well. The danish Brewer Carlsberg has reported a rise in full year profits to 645 million. The company says its expects a modest increase in earnings next year. And Samira Hussain has the details about whats ahead on wall street today. Company earnings continue on wednesday. We will be hearing from time warner. The company is being bought by at t, but the sale has been opposed by us president donald trump. During the election campaign. So investors will be looking for comments on that. Now us coal miner, arch coal will be reporting earnings. This comes at a time when the Donald Trump Administration has been looking to undue regulations and support more mining. Investors and support more mining. Investors and analysts will be watching for broader comments on deregulation. Finally, the Grocery Store chain Whole Foods Market will be reporting earnings. They are grappling with competition and they want to shed their nickname of whole pea cheque. It has been lowering prices and experimenting with its new value orientated grocery brand. Joining us is richard hunter, head of Research At WilsonKing Investment management. We will talk about commodities, arent we . We have seen a Bounce Backin arent we . We have seen a bounce back in commodity prices. Do you think it is sustainable . It could be. On the one hand youve got the demand from the likes of china and indeed india as you were mentioning. So demand is very possibly going to stay there, but the other thing that the Commodities Companies have had to do over the last couple of years is really start running themselves asa is really start running themselves as a business. So they have been cutting costs sharply. They have been Divesting Assets that they dont consider core to what theyre doing and in terms of the likes of rio thats so diversified across so many metals, it could very much be sustainable now theyve cleaned their books up a bit. It is interesting you say that. Weve got rio tintos results today which are better than expected and also theyve boosted their dividend by quite a bit which is very welcome, isnt it, having had a rough couple of yea rs . Isnt it, having had a rough couple of years . It is. Of course, particularly in the Interest Rate environment we find ourselves in at the moment. Any boost to Dividend Income is yet another attraction for shares as against other investments. That follows on from bp yesterday and some other Mining Companies and Commodity Companies. Are they back in favour now, do you think, these stocks for portfolio managers, the Commodity Companies . It is fair to say that they are a good hedge against inflation if we get to that point, inflation could be coming to us point, inflation could be coming to us a bit later in the year because if we get inflation that will be uk focussed, Commodity Companies do 99. 9 of their business outside the uk. Thats an interesting one. But whether investors, they still tend to be towards the higher end of the risk scale so your common investor may not go towards the mining stocks, but theyre more popular than they were 18 months ago. Richard hunter you will be back to discuss the papers. And what he would do after eight years in a toughjob weve got mr obama. Mark said youd burn your suit im with you there. Id sell it. Youd put it on ebay. It depends how long you wore it for still to come, The Inside Track on diversity in the media from the chair of the uks biggest media agency. Youre with Business Live from bbc news. A day after the government launched the housing white paper, one uk House Builder seems to be going from strength to strength. Redrow has just published its Half Year Results showing revenue rising 23 to £739 million and they completed nearly 2,500 homes in the last six months. Their ceo john tutte joins us from the london stock exchange. John, thank you very much for your time this morning. As sally said, yesterday we heard Government Ministers calling the uk Housing Market broken. Whats your reaction to that . Well, good morning everyone. I think perhaps it was an U Nfortu Nate title everyone. I think perhaps it was an unfortunate title for the paper. I dont think its broken. The industry has increased its output by 50 in the last three years. What was your response to the white paper . There was mixed reaction. Most say they were quite disappointed. The one thing to put in context is it is a consultation document, and that consultation is open until the beginning of may. The important thing is how it moves on from here. There is a whole raft of measures proposed in there and that needs detail. It is good news that local authorities, there will be more pressure on them to allocate their housing and put their plans in place because 60 of local authorities have not got plans in place yet. To put them under pressure to do that will be good and to test the delivery of those plans will be good. The measures they are proposing on speeding up the Planning System by putting more resources into planning departments, having fewer conditions on planning permission, is all good news and should help us bring outlets forward and assist our growth. Loreal is selling the body shop potentially. Their results are out on thursday and they could be reviewing their ownership. Youre watching Business Live. Our top story President Trumps travel ban has had its latest outing in the us courts. They are grappling with both sides of the argument. The conclusion will be batted to the Supreme Court anyway. Lawyers for the Justice Department told a hearing in San Francisco why it should be upheld whilst those for Washington State made the case again the ban. A decision is expected later this week. It isa it is a really busy time for earnings. Depending on whether you are rio tinto allred row will depend on how you are doing today. In the advertising and media world, diversity remains a challenge. Karen blacketts father told her as a black woman, shed have to work twice as hard to get anywhere. She now heads up the uks largest media agency. It manages more than £1. 2bn of advertising spend for firms including audi and gsk. Lets get The Inside Track with a Media Executive whos been voted the uks most influential black person, overcoming hurdles to rise to the top of the advertising tree. Karen blackett started her career in 1993 at cia media network. She then joined the Media Business group and was promoted to the Board Of Directors in 1999 when the group merged with mediacom. After climbing the ranks, karen was promoted to chairwoman of the company in 2016. The firm now employs more than 1,000 people in the uk. Karen isjust a karen is just a little karen isjust a little bit older than me, so i feel a little bit inadequate listening to that. When we realised you were coming in, i said we would be talking to you about advertising, diversity and apprenticeships. You have knowledge ona apprenticeships. You have knowledge on a huge agreement of subjects. What is the most important . on a huge agreement of subjects. What is the most important . I love my industry and i love what i do, so advertising is top of the tree, but pa rt advertising is top of the tree, but part of being good at advertising is about having an inclusive workforces, and inclusive content that you create, so diversity and inclusion goes hand in hand with that. It is the buzzword in Management School at the moment, diversity, how to feel diversity in an organisation. Why is it so important . There are so many studies that show when you have more inclusive workforces and cos it benefits both economic play and socially. Those companies which are more diverse tend to be those which are more financially stable and successful. It is a buzzword because it is common business sense. It is not for altruistic reasons, it is business sense. If you have to sell a brand to consumers in any country you need to reflect your consumers in the Advertising Content you create and in the workplace. Being called an influential black person, does it annoy you that that is still a label . It is not something that annoys me, it is something ifind embarrassing but brilliant. But it is something that is important because i know when i was growing up in reading be