According to BBC reporter Maggie Shiels in a story today headlined: “Firms miss social site success”:
“At a recent corporate executive summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, PR company Edelman revealed that social networking shaved 1% off its bottom line by encouraging its staff to use such websites as a recruitment tool.”
Shaved 1pc off its bottom line? Unless the meaning of shaved has changed, that means Edelman has seen profitability drop by 1pc as a result of social networking.
I presume Edelman or Maggie Shiels meant that costs rather than profits were shaved by 1pc.
In business, it is usually wise to know the difference between the two.