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Amazon Pentagon ties may receive greater scrutiny

14 August 2018

Donald Trump is no fan of Jeff Bezos. But the U.S government could become an even bigger Amazon client as the Department of Defense seeks pitches for a $10 bln cloud deal. The juggernaut’s slick Pentagon networking could give rivals like Oracle some curious optics to exploit.

Nielsen’s best option is to rip off the band-aid

13 August 2018

Paul Singer’s Elliott disclosed a 5 pct stake in the stumbling $8.5 bln TV-ratings firm and is pushing for a sale. It’s a surer remedy than auctioning one floundering business unit amidst a protracted CEO search. Buyout firms took Nielsen on once before. Maybe they will again.

China’s #MeToo momentum has broader benefits

10 August 2018

Allegations of sexual misconduct levelled at tech and media executives will inspire others to speak out. If more women confront bullies and bosses, a wider push for equal treatment could creep up the agenda too. That would be a welcome shift in China’s male-dominated boardrooms.

Tesla gets a lesson in buyout realities

9 August 2018

Elon Musk wanting to take the money-losing carmaker private has set Wall Street all atwitter. But Dun & Bradstreet’s $5.4 bln LBO is a reminder of what it usually takes: a mature, mediocre, profitable firm. That’s a better bet than capital-draining dreams of domination.

Alibaba deal seats SoftBank on both sides of table

8 August 2018

Masayoshi Son's $100 bln Vision Fund is mulling an investment in the Chinese e-commerce group's food delivery units. The billionaire is a board member of Alibaba, in which his SoftBank Group holds a 29 pct stake. Potential conflicts of interest in this cosy deal raise red flags.

Tesla buyout would need to go short on leverage

7 August 2018

Elon Musk wants to drive the unprofitable electric-car maker off the public market at a $72 bln sticker price. Banks would balk at lending much more than a third of that, so he’d need to persuade shareholders to stay and big investment funds to jump in. That’s eminently doable.

Ola’s UK ride poses a new threat to Uber

7 August 2018

India’s top taxi-app firm is expanding into Britain, months after it sped into Australia. It's the $7 bln group's second intrusion into one of Uber’s global strongholds. With both startups backed by SoftBank, success would raise the pressure on Masayoshi Son to engineer a deal.

SoftBank investors grapple with Vision distortions

6 August 2018

Earnings at Masayoshi Son’s group jumped tenfold to almost $3 bln in the three months to June, helped by the sale of Indian e-commerce outfit Flipkart. Shifting values in the giant Vision Fund add to the noise. SoftBank’s attempt to tidy up won’t close the stubborn discount.

SoftBank is the disruptor of technology disruptors

3 August 2018

Masayoshi Son’s investment mammoth is wreaking havoc across Silicon Valley and beyond. The $100 bln Vision Fund makes traditional venture-capital funds look puny, gives startups unimagined firepower, and distorts valuations and IPO markets. Tech finance can scarcely keep up.

Singapore’s Grab cashes up for a bigger taxi fight

2 August 2018

The ride-hailing firm won one battle when it pushed U.S. giant Uber out of Southeast Asia. Much of its latest $1 bln funding round will be spent in Indonesia, where Grab is up against local rival Go-Jek. That country is where the region's tech landgrabs will be won or lost.

China’s prickly new watchdog can hit at home too

2 August 2018

Fresh from its role in torpedoing Qualcomm’s $44 bln NXP bid, Beijing’s all-in-one consumer regulator is now investigating the newly-listed Pinduoduo over fake goods, sending the stock down 10 pct. China has built a powerful champion: investors are right to be afraid.

Google’s China re-entry plan looks evil and risky

2 August 2018

The internet giant is planning a censored search engine for China, The Intercept reports. Taking share from local champions like Baidu could prove profitable. But Beijing wants to get its hands on Google's AI expertise. Morality aside, a return would be dangerous business.

Apple both is and isn’t already a $1 trln company

1 August 2018

It’s a tantalizing number, but it’s just that. If the iPhone maker hadn’t bought back so much stock, its market capitalization would have reached 13 digits long ago. Then again, stripping out its cash to value the business alone, there’s still some way to go.

GE put a little too much imagination to work

1 August 2018

The shrinking conglomerate may offload parts of its digital business. GE had targeted some $15 bln of revenue by 2020 on the back of the Predix software initiative, and a CFO once dangled the idea of “infinite returns.” It’s a sobering moment for the internet-of-things hype.

Baidu’s core strength exercise is underappreciated

1 August 2018

The $85 bln Chinese search giant delivered 45 pct earnings growth last quarter, having shed a few distractions. The market is still cautious on Robin Li’s big AI plan as economic headwinds loom. But applying machine learning to content delivery - and censorship – should pay off.

Asian videogame giant gives away online store

31 July 2018

Tencent-backed Sea, at $4.5 bln, trades at a 50 pct discount to the sum of its three parts, Breakingviews calculates. Investors essentially get the Shopee e-commerce business for free. With Alibaba-owned Lazada a big rival in Indonesia, the valuation gap may prove hard to close.

Twitter purges users and shareholders alike

27 July 2018

The social network’s efforts to reduce spam, fake users and toxicity shrank active monthly users. Investors fled as well. That leaves both the platform and valuation more salubrious. Healthy returns will now depend on finding growth.

Pinduoduo polishes New York’s tech IPO crown

27 July 2018

The shopping app’s shares rose 40 pct in their U.S. debut, valuing it at $34 bln. New York has lost some marquee China tech floats to Hong Kong of late, but those it won have mostly outperformed Fragrant Harbour debutants. The Big Apple is still the host with the most.