Investors can at least comfort themselves with the knowledge that he's not leaving entirely. He remains as non-executive chairman of the group and chairman of the strategic investment committee.Yell triumphs over competition regulatorsCollapse of stout party. Almost from the moment they started investigating the matter, competition regulators have been steadily rowing back on the idea that Yell's directories business continue to be price-controlled after the present arrangements expire in April 2008.Yesterday seemed to mark the final surrender to common sense when the Competition Commission said that increased competition from rivals and the internet meant that Yell would in future be allowed to raise prices in line with inflation, which in practice means no price regulation at all.This column said at the time of the referral that the inquiry was a complete waste of time, and so it has proved. Hedge-fund managers have a particular propensity for charity, with quite a few giving away large chunks of the wealth they generate to good causes.

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George Soros, the father of the industry, is proud to call himself a speculator, yet for many the term still carries connotations of parasitic behaviour and unearned wealth.Call it guilt if you like, but the speed and ease with which successful hedge funds make money creates both the means and the will to put something back In this regard, Mr Fink conforms with the pattern. He's been with Man virtually all his working life, the past six years of it as chief executive, during which he has transformed the company from its routes in commodity trading into Europe's largest quoted hedge fund manager with funds of $54bn. He's more than earned his right to step back from the pressures of the chief executive's suite. It's got nothing to do with health; but it may have something to do with those dark days when Mr Fink wondered whether he would be returning to work at all, let alone the demands of running a FTSE 100 company.Instead, he intends to concentrate on his philanthropy, where he has already been active in raising funds for the Evelina children's hospital at Guy's and is heavily involved in ARK, the industry-wide hedge-fund charity.

Subsequent investigation uncovered everyone's worst nightmare - a tumour on the brain; Mr Fink, chief executive of the hugely successful hedge fund operator, Man Group, was just 46 and staring untimely and harrowing death in the face.As it turned out, the tumour was benign and the operation to remove it a miraculous success. Within two months he was back at his desk, albeit with his speech, which he had had to relearn, slightly impaired and his previously Herculean levels of stamina flat on their back. To the relief of family and friends, Mr Fink is now fully recovered and back in rude health. Yet few go through an experience like that without it being life-changing.Nobody should doubt Mr Fink's commitment to what he does or his company. Yet he has been forced to find out the hard way that none of it means anything if you don't have your health.About to board a plane after a holiday in South Africa two years ago, he suddenly became aware that he had lost the power of speech.