Welcome to FN Weekend, your Friday smörgåsbord of the best news, features and opinion from Financial News this week.

STORY TIME: A Frenchman sits atop an august London institution. A calculated financial mind and tactician who, through shrewd acquisition, has transformed it into an exciting performer and money machine. A king whose crowning glory never quite arrived but who, many think, deserves to stand down on his terms. But one who now finds his departure the subject of a war between board and fans.