India Insight: Mukesh Ambani goes after Jeff Bezos 16 Jul 2018 The energy billionaire built an upstart telecoms data network into the world’s biggest. Now Ambani wants to redefine how Indians shop, pitting him against Amazon and Walmart. India’s e-commerce market is young enough – and his pockets deep enough – for him to be a real threat.
Walmart credit-card shift signals race to bottom 13 Jul 2018 Investors knocked 7 pct off $25 bln consumer-finance firm Synchrony on fears the giant retailer will move its card business to Capital One. That looks optimistic, given Amex’s experience with Costco. But loosening credit standards suggest industry-wide pain lies ahead.
Exxon lobby exit boosts investor climate activism 13 Jul 2018 The $350 bln oil giant has quit a group trying to ease regulation of greenhouse gases. That’ll make it harder to fend off shareholders pushing Exxon to tackle how climate change will hit earnings. California cutting its emissions ahead of schedule shows that’s a growing risk.
AT&T throws bone to antitrust watchdogs 13 Jul 2018 The U.S. Justice Dept faces high hurdles in appealing a harsh ruling that cleared the $85 bln purchase of Time Warner. But since the deal closed, AT&T is raising some customer prices. The hikes came after the DOJ lost its case, but could still sway the court of public opinion.
Wells Fargo slump not as bad as it looks 13 Jul 2018 The embattled $264 bln lender missed estimates as loans, deposits, revenue and earnings all fell. Its boss Tim Sloan can take comfort that much of it stems from one-off hits and January’s Fed censure tied to his predecessor’s failures. But he’s yet to show he can reverse the slowdown.
Wall Street banks trade under a shadow 13 Jul 2018 JPMorgan, Citi, Wells Fargo and Bank of America should be worth over $100 bln more than they are, if analysts were right about the effect on earnings of U.S. tax changes. Instead, concerns over rates, credit quality and a lack of regulatory largesse are muting those benefits.
Trust deficit thwarts logical Comcast-Disney truce 13 Jul 2018 The sensible way for the media giants to end their damaging bidding war would be to carve up Rupert Murdoch’s U.S. and UK assets. As the two sides can’t negotiate, an armistice depends largely on goodwill. The rivalry between CEOs Brian Roberts and Bob Iger makes that unlikely.
Key risk to Kylie Jenner’s lip empire is her mouth 13 Jul 2018 The reality TV star’s cosmetics business made $330 mln of revenue in 2017. Value her lip kits like L’Oreal, and she could be a billionaire. But as fellow social media entrepreneurs have found, the sales power of their platform can unravel in an instant by saying the wrong thing.
China’s flirtation with Europe is a tease 13 Jul 2018 Beijing is wooing continental leaders like Germany’s Angela Merkel, hoping for allies against Trump. Despite some common interests, Brussels is sceptical of China’s market opening gestures, plus it still needs U.S. security guarantees. Sweet free trade nothings won’t cut it.
May at least gains soft-power edge over Trump 13 Jul 2018 As the U.S. president ripped into the prime minister’s Brexit policy, an annual ranking of nations’ powers of persuasion put the UK back at No. 1. America’s slide to fourth is less surprising. It’s a crumb of comfort for Theresa May, but she will struggle to stay on top in 2019.
Viewsroom: Trump’s Supreme Court pick 12 Jul 2018 The U.S. president has chosen a friend of big business in Brett Kavanaugh. But he faces bigger questions from Senate democrats about executive power. Plus: Commodity giant Glencore faces mounting risks in Washington, and what’s behind the Chinese yuan’s downward slide.
Holding: Brett Kavanaugh means business on speech 12 Jul 2018 Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick would allow public companies to cut back on disclosure, internet service providers to discriminate against certain content and cable firms to block rivals’ programming. It’s a First Amendment message investors and consumers won’t want to hear.
Delta’s refinery is short of fuel-price alpha 12 Jul 2018 The $35 bln U.S. airline’s growing top line has so far outpaced the rising cost of oil. But the company warned fuel will squeeze its profit for the full year. The 2012 purchase of a refinery has only modestly mitigated the problem. To justify owning it, Delta needs more juice.
Broadcom chief uses up eight of his nine lives 12 Jul 2018 With a single deal – the $19 bln acquisition of software company CA – Hock Tan has torched a reputation built through years of savvy acquisitions. Broadcom lost nearly $16 bln of market value at a stroke. Recovering from that will take time, luck and abstinence.
One number in Fox bid battle just gets smaller 12 Jul 2018 It’s the return on investment Comcast or Disney stands to make from buying parts of Rupert Murdoch’s empire. The price to beat is $71.3 billion, but the deal no longer looks as rational as when Disney made its first offer. As things heat up, the likely winner is whoever loses.
U.S. salvo at Glencore has unintended consequences 12 Jul 2018 A request for details on anti-corruption practices wiped more than $6 bln off the commodities giant's value in a week, raising questions over its future. Yet action is not without a sting for Washington too - if it leaves China even more dominant in resource-rich trouble spots.
Dos and don’ts for UK CEOs meeting Trump 12 Jul 2018 The U.S. president’s visit to Britain will include a dinner on Thursday with business leaders. Counterparts stateside have achieved mixed results from public association with the Twitter-happy occupant of the Oval Office. Breakingviews offers some advice.
SoftBank gets some help tinkering with valuation 12 Jul 2018 Masayoshi Son’s sprawling operation attracted an investment of over $1 bln from hedge fund Tiger Global. That should help SoftBank narrow its conglomerate discount, as might spinning off the Japanese mobile unit. The massive Vision Fund, though, is a murky hodgepodge unto itself.
Comcast can save itself from M&A madness 11 Jul 2018 The U.S. media group upped its bid for Britain’s Sky to $34 bln, a level that defies financial logic. That could be bearable if it drops out of a bigger, parallel auction for Sky’s main shareholder, Fox – leaving rival Disney to overpay. Doubling down would be downright reckless.
Broadcom’s new M&A strategy has a bug 11 Jul 2018 The $105 bln chipmaker’s prolific dealmaking has supercharged growth. But its size, and the torpedoing of its Qualcomm bid, left it bereft of natural targets. Expanding into software by buying CA brings new opportunities - and substantially increases the risks of pitfalls.