Internet

Viewsroom: Jack Dorsey’s heroic year ahead

19 December 2019

From banning political ads to developing cryptocurrency plans, the CEO of Twitter and Square has been politically more astute than rivals like Facebook. That sets him up for a good 2020. Also: the different ways that shareholders, the Fed and M&A bankers will tackle climate risk.

Africa’s Alibaba looks more lemon than unicorn

19 December 2019

Jumia’s post-IPO limp could be life-threatening. The continent’s first billion-dollar tech firm has just enough cash to make it to 2021. But with losses widening due to high delivery costs and short-sellers questioning online transaction numbers, raising more money will be tough.

German listings breakup puts LBO shop in fast lane

18 December 2019

Hellman & Friedman paid 3 bln euros for the car sales division of classifieds group Scout24. It’s a rich price, but the unit’s racy growth means the buyout fund should make a healthy return. A higher exposure to risky property leaves the seller’s investors with a bumpier ride.

App stores are tech’s next Battle Royale

17 December 2019

Google and Apple collect enormous fees through their dominant online app stores. Those are coming under attack – Fortnite owner Epic Games is the latest to lob a grenade. If regulators seek new ways to challenge Silicon Valley, these distribution channels are an easy target.

SoftBank WeWork debacle is dot-com bubble déjà vu

4 December 2019

Boss Masayoshi Son’s first Silicon Valley foray in the 1990s saw busts around now-notorious online grocer Webvan and others. After the WeWork rescue and Uber’s post-IPO slide, a third shot in the form of a second $100 bln-plus Vision Fund will encounter more investor skepticism.

Maybe eBay should rebrand as a VC fund

25 November 2019

The $29 bln firm is a shadow of Amazon in e-commerce, but selling StubHub for $4 bln shows prowess at incubating a business acquired for less than a tenth of that. Off-loading its classified operations could be similarly successful. And eBay’s biggest gains have come from PayPal.

PayPal raids honey pot for $4 bln rewards deal

21 November 2019

The $120 bln payments firm’s purchase of online coupon and rewards firm Honey Science will lure customers who might otherwise go to rivals like Apple or Square. The target is even profitable. But at 40 times trailing revenue, there may be little sweet stuff left for PayPal.

China’s Pinduoduo digs in for a long Alibaba fight

21 November 2019

Investors wiped $11 bln off the e-commerce challenger’s market value after it posted a worse-than-expected quarterly loss. The rising cost of wooing consumers is to blame, as Pinduoduo battles its largest rival for big-city shoppers. Profitability just got a little more distant.

Slack would be better off as part of a team

19 November 2019

Shares of the work-messaging service are down 45% since its June IPO. For all Slack’s charms, Microsoft’s alternative has nearly double the users, and is untroubled by the need to raise capital or turn a profit. Slack’s best course is to find a rich benefactor, like Salesforce.

Russian tech investors see benefits of state grip

19 November 2019

Internet group Yandex’s shares jumped after it tweaked its governance to avoid a clampdown on foreign ownership. The new setup hands power to a fuzzy Russian entity, and could enable government meddling. But shareholders have less to worry about than peers in China, or America.

5G hype faces a U.S. market sanity check

18 November 2019

Next-generation networks have inspired big deals, killed off others and kicked off a political arms race. Now the regulator wants to auction some spectrum publicly, rather than letting its owners sell privately. That might help raise more funds, but it also raises the stakes.

TikTok has escape route that Huawei lacks

18 November 2019

The Chinese-owned video app and its telecom compatriot are both under fire from U.S. lawmakers who fear political meddling. TikTok may have fewer allies to lobby on its behalf, but owner ByteDance could sell or spin its subsidiary off. Huawei, though, is in a long-term trap.

UK Labour’s broadband plan is free of most logic

15 November 2019

The opposition wants to nationalise telecoms provider BT’s network and deliver fibre to all. A state boost to lagging communications infrastructure would be welcome. But providing free web surfing would be very costly - and wipe out private rivals like Sky and Liberty Global.

SoftBank would win from $15 bln Yahoo-Line rejig

13 November 2019

Masayoshi Son’s restless conglomerate may combine its stake in the Japanese search engine with Naver’s holding in the country’s leading messaging app. Both could benefit from a pickup in digital payments. SoftBank, though, would gain new exposure to Line’s more dynamic business.

Lisbon tech confab is antidote to WeWork gloom

11 November 2019

Entrepreneurs and investors who joined the 70,000-strong Web Summit crowd were unfazed by plunging valuations of SoftBank-backed companies, including the office sublessor. Still, the reality check is making sustainable growth and positive cash flow the industry’s new watchwords.

Tech firms muscling in on banks, like it or not

5 November 2019

Uber and Facebook have designs on finance, and Japanese e-commerce group Rakuten wants to set up a U.S. bank. Community lenders have warded off interlopers before. But if regulators value financial inclusion and customers want innovation, small banks are fighting the tide.

Disney streaming service has plus for Netflix too

31 October 2019

Others are also going live, but with a low price and a vault of content Disney+ will be Netflix’s toughest rival. There’s a benefit for CEO Reed Hastings, though: Being lumped together with the Magic Kingdom makes his firm look less like a tech giant in need of regulation.

Super Mario turbo-charges case for Sony breakup

29 October 2019

Shares of $45 bln Nintendo have gained 30% this year, partly thanks to a mobile hit featuring its iconic plumber. A richer valuation should also be an inspiration to sprawling rival Sony. Separating its video-games and entertainment business could be one way to narrow the gap.

Alphabet at risk of middle-aged M&A spread

28 October 2019

The Google owner is pumping out profit from internet ads, but growth – while still rapid – is slowing. A reported bid for Fitbit suggests it sees wearable devices as a path to second youth. There’s something to that, though an expanding waistline brings its own pitfalls.

Google could buff its browser-privacy blemishes

11 October 2019

Chrome’s owner lags both Mozilla’s Firefox and Apple’s Safari in trying to make the web less creepy. The prospect of losing revenue may explain Google’s resistance to blocking certain ad trackers. If more users abandon the web’s most popular browser, Google is likely to act.