Payments sector comedown creates opening for M&A 17 Nov 2023 The once-hot industry has slumped amid rising competition and a possible regulatory clampdown. For online specialists like $34 bln Adyen, the solution is to boost their customer offerings by buying startups. Older players like Nexi and Worldline, meanwhile, are ripe for mergers.
Capital Calls: Walmart, HelloFresh 16 Nov 2023 Concise views on global finance: Although the US retailer lost nearly 8% of its market value after it indicated that price increases are starting to ease, it should be able to navigate the challenge; the 2.7 billion euro meal-delivery company has become a tasty buyout target.
Capital Calls: Goodyear, Target 15 Nov 2023 Concise views on global finance: By offloading assets, the 125-year-old tire maker is succumbing to a similar overhaul as many other iconic US industrial centenarians; the $60 bln retailer has finally taken aim at what it can control – keeping watch over inventory and costs.
Natura takes a bath to pass on Body Shop stink 14 Nov 2023 The Brazilian beauty giant is selling the shower gel retailer for around $260 mln six years after buying it from L’Oréal for $1.1 bln. The 80% price discount reflects the eco-friendly brand’s loss of relevance. For buyer Aurelius, restoring glow requires applying a lot of polish.
Farfetch turns from Richemont blessing to curse 9 Nov 2023 The $65 bln Cartier-owner hoped to fix a problem by flogging part of digital arm YNAP to the US-listed marketplace in a stock deal that involves extending $450 mln in credit. But Farfetch’s stock has dived and its finances are stretched. Its woes risk infecting the bling giant.
Capital Calls: Regulating crypto 7 Nov 2023 Concise views on global finance: The US Securities and Exchange Commission is struggling to hire digital token experts, partly because prospective recruits aren’t willing to acquiesce to the agency’s requirement that they sell their holdings in bitcoin and beyond.
Capital Calls: Starbucks’ wages 6 Nov 2023 Concise views on global finance: Only US baristas with five years of experience will get above-average raises in 2024. Despite more than 9,000 organized workers, Starbucks is dodging the labor pressures faced by shipping firms and automakers this year.
Vans owner VF is due a wardrobe refresh 6 Nov 2023 The $6 bln apparel empire’s debt soared as shares sank 40% under its ex-CEO, whose costly deal for Supreme ran counter to its modus operandi. New boss Bracken Darrell’s cost-cutting plan has promise. Selling the streetwear brand and investing in known hits is the best next step.
Bezos makes third losing bet on real estate 3 Nov 2023 The founder of $1.4 trln Amazon is relocating to Miami from Seattle, in part to be closer to his space venture. His new neighborhood could be underwater before he turns 90. Like hampered plans for a HQ in Virginia and conquering the cosmos, this latest move is a dud.
Capital Calls: Paramount’s stricter streaming 3 Nov 2023 Concise views on global finance: The media stalwart’s shares popped 10% as boss Bob Bakish predicted that losses from its costly streaming push have topped out. But the company still faces a cutthroat market full of better-resourced rivals.
Starbucks will benefit from kicking coffee habit 2 Nov 2023 When the economy slows, as is increasingly expected in the $115 bln company’s key US and China markets, consumers brew more java at home. In 2008, its profit fell 53%. Food and customized drinks are the sorts of small affordable luxuries that should now provide a better cushion.
Broker disruption can grow beyond housing 1 Nov 2023 A $1.8 bln verdict against real estate agents could cut into commissions and deflate sky-high home prices. Industries with similar middlemen were already disrupted. Residential brokers are due for a reckoning. Others, like investment banking, could use dismantling, too.
Aussie winemaker ferments risky US deal vintage 1 Nov 2023 Treasury Wine is spending $900 mln on California’s fast-growing Daou. It’s the latest step in the Penfolds maker’s recovery from Chinese tariffs that corked a third of earnings. But listed US rivals have struggled. And the $5.5 bln buyer has suffered American hangovers before.
Capital Calls: Ford, Amazon 26 Oct 2023 Concise views on global finance: The loss per car at the $45 bln automaker’s electric-vehicle unit has jumped 51% in a year. So-so earnings at the $1.2 trln e-commerce giant’s cloud division beat the even lower bar set by rival Alphabet.
Hess deal would be higher-octane with cash added 25 Oct 2023 The takeover target’s rich valuation grants it a chunky stake in an enlarged Chevron. But the $53 bln merger now offers no premium and only shares in an underperforming acquiror. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth may have to bid against himself by throwing in a sweetener with hard currency.
If Amazon, why not Walmart? 25 Oct 2023 Lina Khan’s FTC argues the e-commerce giant’s dominance leaves sellers and customers little choice, even though shopping habits vary. The agency also targets common pricing strategies. By this logic, it’s hard to see what’s so different from the Walton family’s mega-retailer.
Alphabet’s present looks brighter than its future 24 Oct 2023 Revenue at the Google parent rose more than 10% for the first time since mid-2022 because of a recovery in online advertising, its bread-and-butter. But a stumble in its fast-growing cloud computing unit suggests it will be tough for Alphabet to catch up with weightier rivals.
GM earnings give its restive workers an inch 24 Oct 2023 The automaker’s strong third-quarter earnings have raised the stakes in a strike costing it $200 million a week. The union continues to push aggressively. But with Detroit’s gas guzzlers doing relatively well, a tough-but-survivable compromise seems possible.
Capital Calls: P&G’s pricing power 18 Oct 2023 Concise views on global finance: The $350 bln maker of Pampers diapers and Pantene shampoo charged another 7% more on average for its stable of products, but it can afford to keep squeezing shoppers because of the $1.1 trln Americans have in the bank.
Rite Aid can do more wrong in bankruptcy 17 Oct 2023 Ill-advised acquisitions, mismanagement, and the growth of more diversified rivals contributed to the drugstore chain’s demise. But its role in the US opioid epidemic was the real killer. Rite Aid wants to restructure, but an eventual sale may be the end game.