| After a decade of some of the most lavish staff parties in the corporate world, Vodafone has cancelled its famous summer ball for employees.
The Shaw-based mobile phone firm told staff recently that rising costs made the bash too expensive, even though costs were reined in two years ago, for example with Tony Hadley headlining instead of Robbie Williams.
Scrapping the ball also comes hard on the heels of a dip in Vodafone's pre-tax profits, as it faces intense competition across the planet. The ball has been held at such prestigious venues as Earls Court, Newbury Racecourse, Blenheim Palace, Highclere Castle and by the Thames near Canary Wharf. | 
