A new U.N. report on global warming gives financiers fresh reasons to take bigger steps to help avert or mitigate the consequences, Breakingviews editors argue. A plan by the UK’s Prudential and the Asian Development Bank to close coal-fired power stations offers a model. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Square’s $29 bln takeover of Aussie fintech darling Afterpay shines a light on the “buy now, pay later” craze, which poses a big challenge to many established players in the banking and payments businesses, argue Melbourne-based editors Jeff Goldfarb and Antony Currie. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Some of the biggest investors, including Brookfield and TPG, are launching mega-funds to invest in the global transition to a net-zero economy in what could be the ultimate new asset class. Richard Beales and Rob Cox discuss. Plus, Beijing’s crackdown on after-school tutoring. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
The Tokyo games are struggling with rising Covid-19 infections, corporations pulling out, an unenthused Japanese public and now a bad Holocaust joke. Pete Sweeney and Rob Cox discuss. Meantime, John Foley says Robinhood resembles E*Trade 20 years ago – in good and bad ways. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Earnings of Wall Street’s largest banks confirmed that animal spirits among corporate chiefs and global investors are running high, while pandemic-shy consumers are getting their mojo back. John Foley walks Rob Cox through JPMorgan, Goldman, BofA, Wells Fargo and Citi results. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Why are private equity firms clogging the aisles at Britain’s WM Morrison to pull off a near-$9 billion purchase of the supermarket chain? Aimee Donnellan and Peter Thal Larsen explain. And our Asia columnists discuss Beijing’s new attitude to U.S.-traded Chinese companies. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
China’s Communist Party turns 100. The institution has never been so popular at home or resented abroad. Its leaders are experts at the nuances of control and long on ambition, Pete Sweeney says. Plus, Wall Street enlists individual investors to help price initial stock deals. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
From Morgan Stanley to BlackRock, the world’s top investment banks and money managers are back in their offices and super busy with mergers, IPOs, LBOs and other activities thumping. Plus, Soho House and Wise go public and green hydrogen megalomania on the Congo river. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Blackstone, KKR, Carlyle and other firms are flipping the leveraged buyout playbook with deals that, while less dependent on debt, don’t always add up for their backers. Meanwhile, investment banking is fast becoming the fragrant harbor’s monoculture. Our columnists discuss. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Governments and companies are dangling incentives for people to get jabbed against Covid-19. But it will take more than free weed, lottery tickets and beer to reach herd immunity, Jeff Goldfarb explains. And Dasha Afanasieva says take the pastries, leave the Krispy Kreme shares. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
A small activist fund upended Exxon Mobil’s board while Shell was dealt a setback in a Dutch courtroom. At the same time, Chevron shareholders backed a proposal to cut more emissions. The interests of both stakeholders and shareholders are rapidly aligning in fossil fuels. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
The telephone company’s deal with Discovery, the reversal of a failed strategy to become a media juggernaut, opens a window into streaming warfare; and the creation of Southeast Asia do-everything internet group GoTo is a prelude of more to come. Plus, no Davos in Singapore. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
China’s census data showed the population grew just 0.53% every year in the decade to 2020, with fertility rates dropping to Japanese levels. That’s bad news for growth. And European rainmakers like Claudio Costamagna and Ian Osborne offer market-friendlier blank-check deals. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Though special purpose acquisition vehicles are nothing new, the recent boom in fundraising and dealmaking has provided fertile hunting grounds for Breakingviews columnists. Lauren Silva Laughlin and Richard Beales walk through their new compilation “The Art of the SPAC.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Images of vast funeral pyres, overcrowded hospitals and empty streets have been emanating from India as the country grapples with surging Covid-19 infection rates. Una Galani surveys the situation on the ground from Mumbai and discusses the government’s response with Rob Cox. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
The richest European soccer clubs, including Juventus and Real Madrid, swiftly aborted plans to create a breakaway competition. But as Liam Proud and Peter Thal Larsen explain, the financial appeal of a U.S.-style sporting cartel remains irresistible. Plus, Huarong’s woes. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
For businesspeople eager to get back on the road, three lucky Breakingviews editors share their experiences of hopping across the Atlantic, traveling to India and navigating Europe’s arbitrary rules. Asia columnists discuss how Beijing has come down hard on Jack Ma’s tech empire. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Huawei makes telecoms, Haier dishwashers, Xiaomi phones, Evergrande condos. Now, these Chinese companies all want to make battery-powered vehicles too. And while on the subject of building, U.S. President Joe Biden is going big. Maybe too big for the bean counters in the Senate. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
The extraordinary unwinding of Bill Hwang’s family office was one of those rare stories that connected Breakingviews columnists from Hong Kong, New York, Zurich, London, Melbourne and Washington into one big, hard-working family. Here are some of the lessons they learned. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
President Tayyip Erdogan’s abrupt firing of a third central bank governor forced investors to contemplate whether this might precipitate a run on financial assets in other developing markets, including South Africa. Breakingviews columnists discuss the implications. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Vaccination programmes are running apace in the UK, U.S., Israel and other nations, but they have worryingly stalled in Europe. This reflects more than just differing health systems, Breakingviews columnists argue. Plus, more on the shakeup of a historic Hong Kong trading house. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Big names in finance, like Credit Suisse and tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, are suffering collateral damage from the UK supply chain lender’s collapse. The sale of aircraft leasing brings GE closer to CEO Larry Culp’s light-bulb moment. And working from home risks a diversity disaster. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
A plague year for the world was a relatively rich one for the heads of Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo; Southeast Asian tech conglomerate Sea navigated choppy waters to a $127 bln market value; Greensill’s problems may not be systemic, but they’re worth watching. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Toyota, Ford and GM are all trading at their highest level in years as investors start to pick some winners among traditional automakers. Fear of missing the next Tesla, though, means shareholders are keeping the heady valuations for upstarts like latest SPAC target Lucid Motors. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Blank check mania has crossed the Atlantic, bringing with it hopes of riches for well-connected financiers, underwriters, startup founders and ordinary investors. The U.S. example, though, offers some warning signs, our columnists suggest, as they ponder a vehicle of their own. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Elon Musk has gone full cryptocurrency. Tesla’s $1.5 bln bitcoin buy is a wink to virtual-investment, anti-establishment fervor, if a challenge to accounting rules, Richard Beales argues. Meantime, Japanese carmakers are going gaga for hydrogen, and Parisian finance is in tumult. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is handing the baton to Andy Jassy so he can spend more time with his rockets, a move that’s not always smooth sailing, Jennifer Saba tells Rob Cox. Meantime Mr. Whatever It Takes, Mario Draghi, is summoned to save Italy and Europe’s Hamiltonian moment. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Something completely wacky is happening with GameStop and a few other stocks favored by short sellers, and it’s likely to end very poorly for some armchair traders, Breakingviews columnists discuss. Plus, a visit to our Melbourne bureau for tennis and Google lessons. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
The new U.S. president arrives with a long to-do list, good intentions and a swelling national debt pile. Gina Chon and Richard Beales talk with John Foley about what to expect. Plus: New lockdowns bring fresh financial problems in China, as Yawen Chen and Pete Sweeney explain. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
A Joe Biden-Xi Jinping reset will be unsatisfying; China’s economic revival will frustrate critics; Southeast Asia will be the next tech hot spot; HSBC will retreat from America; and Hong Kong’s exchange will rethink deals. Pete Sweeney, Jennifer Hughes and Robyn Mak discuss. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
