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Climate-denying magnate stoked potent opposition

23 August 2019

Billionaire David Koch’s funding for anti-global warming causes helped delay a response to a mounting crisis. He died as record fires beset the Amazon. But governments, companies and investors have already consigned his belief that free markets cure all ills to the scrap heap.

Carmakers have $372 bln incentive to defy Trump

23 August 2019

That’s the annual sales at risk if they don’t meet emissions rules in California and 14 other states that are tougher than the U.S. president wants. True, carmakers could lose sales elsewhere if Trump were right that cleaner cars cost more and work less well. But he isn’t.

Fed chief crafts central banker’s serenity prayer

23 August 2019

Jay Powell hopes to control what he can and rise above what he can’t. His speech at Jackson Hole highlighted trade battles, which he can’t influence, as a new challenge for rate-setters. But his tone suggests more willingness to weigh policy threats when shaping monetary policy.

Viewsroom: How to read the recession runes

22 August 2019

A U.S. downturn is near, judging by past early warning signals from yield curves to bank valuations. But fallout from the 2008 crisis has sapped them of some predictive power. Plus: what the exit of Cathay Pacific’s CEO says about Beijing’s response to the Hong Kong protests.

U.S. retail can get better before it gets worse

22 August 2019

Big store chains are bucking the gloom, some thanks to their former inefficiency. Nordstrom is cutting stock, J.C. Penney is slashing costs and Target’s bid to compete with Amazon is starting to take effect. That creates room for pleasant surprises – if only in the short term.

Rivals expose WeWork’s low defensive walls

22 August 2019

Flexible-office provider Knotel just raised $400 mln. Coworking upstart Industrious could soon make money. WeWork’s huge losses and flawed governance are already enough to undermine its $47 bln pre-IPO valuation. The fragility of its first-mover advantage is another weakness.

A VW-Tesla marriage looks heartbreakingly remote

22 August 2019

The German carmaker’s CEO Herbert Diess covets the $40 bln group’s tech, Manager Magazin reported. Tesla could use VW’s cash and manufacturing nous. But boss Elon Musk has shown no interest in cooperating with rivals. And Tesla’s crazy-high valuation makes a takeover unlikely.

Breakdown: The global fight over Big Tech’s taxes

22 August 2019

OECD countries are trying to agree a new set of rules for the likes of Google. States in Europe and elsewhere want more income from digital behemoths but could well face U.S. intransigence. That makes a messy patchwork of local levies and American countermeasures likely.

Walmart adds solar burns to Tesla’s challenges

21 August 2019

The U.S. retailing giant is suing Elon Musk’s $40 bln electric-car maker for negligence after its solar panels allegedly sparked fires at stores, further denting Tesla’s quality-control image. Walmart’s move also puts Musk’s odd 2016 acquisition of SolarCity back in the spotlight.

Banks win a little more rope to hang themselves

21 August 2019

The Volcker Rule stopping banks betting with their own money was worthy but flawed. That’s still the case after its latest rewrite, but it may at least be more usable. Eased rules imply Wall Street firms are no longer in the sin bin. It’s up to them to prove that’s justified.

Greenland is not for sale, but the UK might be

21 August 2019

Donald Trump won’t be visiting Denmark, after it rejected his interest in its autonomous dependent territory. To quench his thirst for geo-M&A, the U.S. president could aim for the United Kingdom. The target is undeniably much larger, but it may soon be available at a low price.

Hadas: Boeing lens refracts a Beijing dilemma

21 August 2019

Xi Jinping wants both tight government control and a modern economy. That combination has never worked, for good reasons. China’s leader could learn from the U.S. aerospace giant’s mess. A politically uncomfortable free press can be an economically helpful check on corruption.

Tech will struggle to evade U.S. antitrust octopus

20 August 2019

Facebook and Apple may soon face state-level probes into their business practices, as well as two by federal agencies. America’s multi-tentacled approach to antitrust is a tangled mess, but a strangely efficient one. It may also favor a tougher end result.

Transatlantic pet care deal will need grooming

20 August 2019

Elanco is paying $7.4 billion in cash and shares to buy Bayer’s animal-health division. The deal may make more sense for the seller than the buyer. The Eli Lilly spinoff will have to ramp up sales and deliver on ambitious cost-cutting plans to make a success of its acquisition.

Twitter deserves a follow for China mute and block

20 August 2019

The $32 bln social network suspended state-backed accounts trying to subvert protests in Hong Kong. It also will stop taking ads from government-controlled media. Beijing’s wedge issue is a good opportunity for Facebook, YouTube and others to reconsider profiting from propaganda.

American CEOs may be half way to enlightenment

19 August 2019

The Business Roundtable touted a pledge by corporate leaders to run companies more for the greater good as if it’s a new era. In reality, shareholder primacy has reached a natural limit. Such promises, however, require concrete steps. One might be breaking down CEO primacy, too.

Holding: Are white-collar prosecutors going soft?

19 August 2019

That’s the implication of declining U.S. demand for defense lawyers. It’s possible corporate America is finally behaving itself. More likely, though, the dearth of cases against banks and other companies means enforcers are both turning a blind eye and chasing different prey.

Wall Street adds $125 bln to recession conundrum

16 August 2019

That’s the market value lost by the top five U.S. investment banks in just three weeks, leaving only JPMorgan trading above book value. History suggests it’s an early investor bet on a downturn. But as with the yield curve, the fallout from the last crisis distorts the message.

American CEO pay inflation is down but not yet out

16 August 2019

A new study shows top company bosses made 278 times an average employee’s pay in 2018 – a quarter less than the 2000 peak. At this rate, it will only take another 50 or so years to get back to the 30 times ratio of 1978. There might be an anti-elite revolution before then.