Corona Capital: Vaccines, Dr. Martens 29 Jan 2021 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Quantity matters with vaccines, while Permira gets an extra kick from the bootmaker.
Brexit is a flawed gift for Scottish secessionists 27 Jan 2021 Britain’s departure from the EU may encourage remain-voting Scotland to quit the UK. Yet the main lesson from the divorce is that a big economic bloc can force its view on a smaller one. “Scoxit” makes more sense than in 2014, but the risks are harder to brush under the carpet.
Corona Capital: UK’s quarantine, U.S. prisons 27 Jan 2021 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Britain’s new quarantine rules are weak, but will still hurt the travel industry; and for-profit prisons lose business to the U.S. government.
Corona Capital: Music deals 26 Jan 2021 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Warner Music may take a stake in the music business owned by Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
Review: “Work Won’t Love You Back”, so compromise 22 Jan 2021 Sarah Jaffe explains how a devotion to jobs isn’t working for today’s employees. She’s right that loving your profession can mean forgoing salary, lifestyle or security. Inadvertently she makes the case for dropping the pursuit of purpose for good pay and a more balanced life.
Corona Capital: M&A boost, Purell 22 Jan 2021 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and other banks collectively reaped billions in fees related to advice on transactions with the expectation the money will keep rolling in; hand sanitizer makers hope good habits linger.
Corona Capital: ESG investing, U.S. moves, P&G 20 Jan 2021 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: ESG opens up investing opportunities; home values in U.S. resort towns rise faster than rural areas; and Procter & Gamble cleans up.
Corona Capital: Satellites, Shoes 15 Jan 2021 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: SoftBank pours cash into satellite startup; and footwear winners and losers.
Germany’s female executive quota is hard to export 15 Jan 2021 The government will soon require the country’s top 70 companies to have at least one woman on their management boards. The long overdue move will force firms to quickly identify a raft of female talent. But Germany’s unusual corporate structure makes it difficult to replicate.
Shared scooters jump into a profitable future 14 Jan 2021 The pandemic has given a new boost to startups offering two-wheeled rentals, previously dented by high operating costs and safety fears. With increased demand, more European cities legalising e-scooters, and funding from investors like SoftBank, the business is gaining speed.
Corona Capital: Target, IPOs keep coming 13 Jan 2021 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Retailer Target gets an extra sales boost from its earlier e-commerce efforts, while buy-now-pay-later company Affirm continues one of 2020’s less-hated features – a smoking hot IPO market.
Guest view: Dislocation will be 2021’s buzzword 13 Jan 2021 Vaccine rollouts offer hope for a return to a pre-Covid normal. But disruptions to supply chains, credit markets and labour will be deep and unpredictable. Withdrawing support now creates costlier longer-term risks, the OECD’s Andrea Garnero and Muzinich’s Fabrizio Pagani write.
Facebook’s four-point defense just about holds up 11 Jan 2021 COO Sheryl Sandberg laid out why the $730 bln social network is on the right side of history, from taking down bad actors to keeping small businesses alive. There are flaws in her argument, but Facebook has probably deflected the worst of the political fury.
Corona Capital: KKR/music, IMF 11 Jan 2021 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Private equity giant KKR buys a stake in hip OneRepublic music royalties; and the International Monetary Fund half-heartedly bumps up its target lending cushion.
Chancellor: Year of extraordinary popular delusion 7 Jan 2021 The pandemic hasn’t just provoked irrational fears; a great speculative fervour also appeared. And the froth of the year of Covid-19 in financial markets exhibits three of the conditions described in Charles Mackay’s classic book on the inflation of speculative bubbles.
Corona Capital: Video rental stores, Conagra 7 Jan 2021 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: A last surviving U.S. video rental chain shutters, Conagra’s boosted sales aren’t enough for investors.
Corona Capital: U.S. college football 6 Jan 2021 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: U.S. college football programs are in a talent arms race for coaches, a bit like companies' quest for top-ranked CEOs, despite the pandemic's impact on revenue.
Dixon: How to make COP26 climate summit a success 5 Jan 2021 Politicians and markets increasingly get the danger of climate change. And technology is advancing fast. But the climate is also deteriorating rapidly. Here are six things that can be done at this year’s summit to make sure the planet doesn’t lose the race against time.
Third lockdown entrenches Britain’s great divides 5 Jan 2021 The virus has already hit smaller companies and the less affluent harder than bigger firms and the rich. New restrictions to control a fresh outbreak mean a deeper slump, until vaccines come to the rescue. Other countries will need to act more quickly to avoid similar pain.
Corona Capital: Commercial real estate, IBM 5 Jan 2021 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Commercial office real estate is Zoom’s mirror image; IBM taps former Goldman-exec Gary Cohn.