Blue Apron cut suggests investors have discernment 28 Jun 2017 After feasting on Snap's nutrition-free IPO, it's healthy to see potential owners forcing the meal-kit maker's price down a third. Blue Apron's numbers were unappetizing even before Amazon's Whole Foods deal. Palates with a more refined taste for risk may find it digestible.
Ransomware reveals tech challenges past and future 28 Jun 2017 The Petya cyber attack spread from Ukraine to 65 countries, infecting software that could have been patched. Human error enables hacking of today's IT setups, making prank emails that deceived bank bosses alarming, too. The cloud reduces that danger – but introduces others.
Hadas: Time for a big rethink on interest rates 28 Jun 2017 Central banks are told to worry first about prices. The long-term global trend of low inflation makes that a distraction. The right focus now is on weaning investors off the false highs of easy credit and rising asset prices. Part of the withdrawal is making money more expensive.
Apollo mega-fund includes giant margin for error 28 Jun 2017 Leon Black's shop has accumulated the largest single pool of capital earmarked for buyouts, at $23.5 bln. Apollo adds to a growing private-equity stockpile that could make outsized returns harder to come by. With yields so low, though, it's easier to make fund investors happy.
Nestlé serves up only semi-sweet buyback 27 Jun 2017 Days after being put on the spot by Dan Loeb, the Kit Kat maker said it would repurchase up to $21 bln of shares over three years. It's an incremental step, like a review of the U.S. candy arm. Ignoring bigger issues, however, could allow the activist to marshal more support.
Brazil shambles toward zombie rule 27 Jun 2017 President Temer probably can cling to his job despite corruption charges leveled by the country's top prosecutor. His focus on survival, however, is apt to sap life from much-needed efforts at fiscal restraint. Semi-paralysis will be the state of play until 2018 elections.
Google’s EU fine more about principle than money 27 Jun 2017 While a 2.4 billion euro penalty is the biggest Europe has ever applied for antitrust violations, Google is rich enough to absorb the hit. More damaging, if it sticks, is the new idea that the search giant ought not to use its market dominance to privilege its own products.
Cable guys’ Sprint lurch bound for crossed wires 27 Jun 2017 Comcast and Charter are in talks with the $33 bln U.S. mobile carrier that may include a range of options, from the use of airwaves to an acquisition. Wherever they end up, a ménage-à-trois involving moguls John Malone, Brian Roberts and Masayoshi Son could prove ungainly.
London fire hits at Arconic’s weakest spot 27 Jun 2017 Fear of lawsuits over cladding involved in a deadly high-rise fire knocked the company’s stock. The blow to its image may compound the damage. A recent proxy fight revealed an insular corporate culture. With only an interim management, Arconic will struggle to contain the crisis.
China’s latest logistics IPO is hard to unpack 27 Jun 2017 Alibaba-backed Best Inc could raise $1 bln in New York, a few months after a rival's disappointing debut. The loss-making group is faster-growing and more diverse. But the extra complexity could make this a hard sell for already-wary investors.
U.S. Senate healthcare bill lacks “heart” to pass 26 Jun 2017 Donald Trump wanted a less "mean" rollback of Obamacare. Yet the Senate spared only 1 mln of 23 mln set to lose health cover under the House plan, by Congressional Budget Office figures. The White House is undermining the CBO, but even a Republican-only deal will need surgery.
U.S. waterworks wrestle with funding spigot 26 Jun 2017 The industry needs some $5 trln to patch up pipes, yet is getting little help from Washington. Water leaders convening in New Orleans this week have plenty of ways to woo investors. Fragmentation, cash-strapped customers and struggling utilities present significant risks, though.
Silicon Valley reinvents avoidable sexism scandals 26 Jun 2017 Binary Capital is imploding amid claims of predatory behavior. Uber is belatedly tackling similar issues. Venture-capital doyen Reid Hoffman wants an industry “decency pledge.” That's fine, but the tech world could have learned long ago from experience, including on Wall Street.
U.S. GOP tries version of “extend and pretend” 26 Jun 2017 The mantra used to defer the reckoning on dodgy loans has come to Congress. Some lawmakers want to extend the 10-year budget horizon to at least 20 years. That would allow bigger tax cuts and deficits in the near term, but would be as irresponsible as the worst of Wall Street.
Time’s Fortune 500 index reeks of desperation 26 Jun 2017 The publisher hopes a new stock benchmark based on its business magazine’s list of the largest U.S. companies can bring in much-needed revenue. It may have worked over a decade ago. But rivals like the S&P 500 have already won over the most promising users: passive funds.
Match.com owner leaves investors looking for love 26 Jun 2017 A CalPERS lawsuit has forced IAC to scrap plans to use non-voting stock to give Chairman Barry Diller eternal control of the company. Legal threats may thwart similar egregious ideas. But to remove existing supervoting powers at Facebook, Snap and the like is a far harder task.
Russia’s Fridman goes from bitter pill to UK tonic 26 Jun 2017 The oligarch, once made to divest oil assets by a Russia-averse UK government, has offered a punchy 2.9 times sales for vitamin retailer Holland & Barrett. It’s a new direction, but an uncontroversial one. This time, Britain ought to thank Fridman for the vote of confidence.
Nestle’s big problem is its crunchy governance 26 Jun 2017 Hedge fund Third Point’s ideas for the Swiss maker of KitKat are sensible but obvious. Nestle is already weighing up asset sales. It has set and missed targets before. Shaking up the company’s slow-moving culture would achieve more – starting with a new chairman.
Nestle gives Dan Loeb an Alpine peak to climb 26 Jun 2017 The pushy billionaire has set his sights on the Swiss Alpo-to-Perrier producer. Consumer groups such as P&G and Pepsi have proven tough activist targets. Loeb clearly likes a challenge, having recently agitated in lethargic Japan. And $263 bln Nestle may be a movable mountain.
U.S. debt ceiling’s only value is as a warning light 23 Jun 2017 The Treasury wants lawmakers to raise the $20 trln cap on federal borrowing or risk a default. The 100-year-old idea of the limit is no longer practical, especially when Congress won't link it with budgeted outlays. Still, the ceiling is a symbol of America's growing debt burden.