It’s been a year of ups and downs in the business world. From multibillion-dollar takeover bids to unconfirmed North Korean cyber attacks, 2014 will certainly be remembered - but not necessarily all for the right reasons.

As we enter a new year, here’s our look back at the year that was and a few of the most influential, notable or just downright blunt musings from the people who shaped the business world in 2014:

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Dr. Dre becomes the first hip-hop billionaire

“First billionaire in hip hop!”

After hearing that Apple was planning a $3 billion takeover bid for Dr. Dre’s Beats business, the outspoken rapper took to YouTube to release a video celebrating his rather large windfall.

Mark Zuckerberg lashes out at Apple

“A frustration I have is that a lot of people increasingly seem to equate an advertising business model with somehow being out of alignment with your customers. I think it’s the most ridiculous concept. What, you think because you’re paying Apple that you’re somehow in alignment with them? If you were in alignment with them, then they’d make their products a lot cheaper!”

Relations between tech giants are rarely smooth, and after Apple CEO Tim Cook had a dig at Facebook’s ad-supported business model, claiming that, in effect, it was selling its users’ personal details to turn a profit, Zuckerberg was provoked into a reaction.

Elon Musk shares his fears on Artificial Intelligence

“With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon… We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes.”

This slightly confusing quote from Tesla CEO Elon Musk may suggest that he’s having second thoughts about the self-driving car he’s backing. At least we know he’s taking every precaution to ensure that we don’t have a real-life Terminator on our hands.

John Legere attacks T&T and Verizon

“These high and mighty duopolists that are raping you for every penny you have.”

He’s got a reputation for being outspoken, but T-Mobile CEO John Legere pushed the boundaries even for him this year, when he launched into a profanity-ridden tirade against the two largest carriers in the U.S. Legere later tweeted an apology, bemoaning his lack of natural filter when speaking in public.

Evan Spiegel turns down huge Snpachat takeover deal

“It’s all fake money still.”

Snapchat has been one of the big success stories of 2014, and that success was validated when Facebook launched a $3 billion takeover bid for the company. However, founder and CEO Evan Spiegel wasn’t tempted in the slightest by the offer, which is just as well, because the company is now estimated to be worth an astonishing $10 billion!

Bono on U2 Apple album fiasco

“Oops. I’m sorry about that. I had this beautiful idea, but we might have got carried away with it ourselves… There’s a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it.”

People don’t take kindly to having things forced upon them without their consent, so when U2 frontman Bono had a brainwave that the band’s new album Songs of Innocence should be pushed on to all Apple iTunes products for free, the gesture did not go down too well with the public. Although he may have meant no harm, the Irish singer later apologised for his ill thought-out stunt.

Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook’s changing ethos

“We’ve changed our internal motto from ‘Move fast and break things’ to ‘Move fast with stable infrastructure’.”

When asked in an interview about the stability of Facebook going forward, the previously brash Zuckerberg responded in a rather surprising manner, pinpointing stable, methodical development as crucial to the company’s long-term success - a drastic U-turn from the “jump in first and ask questions later” ethos of old.

Unnamed Sony exec’s opinion of Adam Sandler revealed by hack

“We continue to be saddled with the mundane, formulaic Adam Sandler films.”

Not so much a quote as a blunder revealed by December’s sensational hack of Sony Pictures, this quote was picked from a long list of potentially damaging comments made that were never meant to see the light of day.