Huawei gets pushed toward collision with Alibaba 26 May 2021 Founder Ren Zhengfei wants his embattled hardware company to shift focus to cloud computing and software. That will pit him against the $570 bln e-commerce giant, which is also moving into IT services. Huawei's scale and resources make it a formidable threat.
UK shunts Trainline into financial slow track 20 May 2021 The 1.5 billion pound rail ticket website’s shares fell 30% on concerns that a state-backed app will topple its dominance. They are likely to fall further as greater competition squeezes profitability. KKR’s decision to IPO the business two years ago looks all the more timely.
Capital Calls: JPMorgan, FirstGroup, Break fees 18 May 2021 Concise insights on global finance: Jamie Dimon is shuffling his deputies; the UK bus-to-rail group’s sale of its U.S. businesses to EQT has hit an investor revolt; deals involving AT&T and Canadian National Railway highlight the fees due for walking away.
Capital Calls: Disney misses the mark 13 May 2021 Concise views on global finance: Walt Disney reported nearly 104 million subscribers for its streaming flagship service.
Dogecoin needn’t be any sillier than bitcoin 12 May 2021 The canine cryptocurrency lacks bitcoin’s supply limit, ethereum’s usefulness, and the heft of both. But it’s hyped by Elon Musk and others, which could help what started as a joke compete with other digital coinages. Crypto is young enough that there’s room for an underdog.
Germany becomes food delivery battleground, again 12 May 2021 Delivery Hero is returning to the market it exited in 2018, while Uber is also preparing to take a bite. The pandemic has given Germans a taste for home-delivered meals, boosting market leader Just Eat Takeaway. With big players piling back in, shareholders may go hungry.
Capital Calls: Amazon EU tax win, Scooter SPAC 21 Jan 2022 Concise views on global finance: Jeff Bezos’s e-commerce giant wins a victory over the European Union, but the battle has already moved on; Bird’s $2.3 billion price tag is relatively high but less pie-in-the-sky than some recent deals.
Apple’s App battle has only slightly epic ending 5 May 2021 A ruling against the $2 trillion tech behemoth in the case brought by video game company Epic could optically be bad for Apple and have global implications. But even if App Store sales fall in half, it would shave just 3% from Apple’s market value. Being a giant has privileges.
Capital Calls: Pfizer, ConocoPhillips 4 May 2021 Concise views on global finance: About $6 bln of additional earnings from Covid vaccines at the U.S. drug giant should mean more capital returned to investors; the independent oil group is offloading stock in Canada-based Cenovus it collected as part of a deal four years ago.
Capital Calls: Apple, UK SPACs 30 Apr 2021 Concise views on global finance: Apple’s European antitrust problem may start a global trend; UK regulators scramble to join SPAC party.
Twitter can learn to love the flock it has 30 Apr 2021 Jack Dorsey’s social network warned that user growth will slow and costs will rise. The shares fell some 10%. Twitter lacks Facebook’s diversified product range, and Snap’s popularity. What the $52 bln firm does have is an opportunity to better monetize a pretty loyal audience.
Capital Calls: Jerome Powell, Shopify 28 Apr 2021 Concise views on global finance: The clock is ticking on the Fed boss’s taper timeline; the e-commerce firm grew even as it warns of a post-pandemic lull.
Microsoft edge is not being one of its big rivals 27 Apr 2021 Regulatory scrutiny is holding back consumer-focused competitors Apple, Amazon and Alphabet. Microsoft is freer to do deals and promote software like Teams. Quarterly results show the benefits. Even so, a $2 trillion market cap makes it hard to keep out of the spotlight.
Darktrace’s cut-price IPO still looks risky 26 Apr 2021 The cyber firm’s $2.6 bln float values it at around 10 times 2020 revenue, well below listed CrowdStrike and Zscaler. But the loss-making business is vulnerable to rivals. Close links with investor Mike Lynch, who’s facing U.S. fraud charges, could also leave investors exposed.
EQT spins Micro Focus misfortune into gold 26 Apr 2021 The Swedish buyout firm may float software group SUSE for up to $10 bln, having paid its struggling UK owner $2.5 bln in 2018. It’s a classic corporate carveout on steroids. One lesson is that CEOs should put more effort into retaining possible upside when selling their castoffs.
Capital Calls: The $2 trln toybox 23 Apr 2021 Concise views on global finance: Mattel’s 47% sales growth tees up a spree of discretionary spending, as American consumers raid pandemic savings.
Panasonic’s $7 bln deal will leave investors blue 23 Apr 2021 The Japanese group is paying a pricey 33 times forecast EBITDA for Blue Yonder, its biggest acquisition in a decade. The target's expertise in supply-chain software and steady stream of subscription sales are appealing, but the implied return on investment is a huge downer.
Capital Calls: Bank of America, WeWork, Kering 20 Apr 2021 Concise views on global finance: The bank’s shareholders voted against a deeper dive into its impact on racial inequality; the office landlord is taking bitcoin as payment, for now; the Gucci owner needs to run faster to catch arch-rival LVMH.
UiPath’s $28 bln IPO may be as hot as Snowflake 19 Apr 2021 The company's revenue from software robots that replace humans doing boring back-office tasks is growing 80% annually. A valuation of over 40 times last year's sales looks feverish in objective terms, but cheap relative to in-demand technology peers like data outfit Snowflake.
Epic’s $29 bln price tag looks beyond “Fortnite” 14 Apr 2021 Its latest fundraising values the maker of the cult shoot-’em-up game at two-thirds more than last August. That’s a bigger bump than listed peers got from the pandemic. Investors are counting on boss Tim Sweeney’s bets on digital marketplaces and game-making software to pay off.