SoftBank shows true colours with U.S. tech binge 7 Sep 2020 Masayoshi Son’s conglomerate has bought $30 bln of exposure to U.S. tech stocks with $4 bln of call options, media reports say. It’s yet another risky proposition that exposes the company’s weak governance. Months of steady progress suggest more buybacks might have been better.
Fintech payment pioneers face war on two fronts 3 Sep 2020 Afterpay’s shares fell 10% after PayPal said it would offer a “buy now pay later” product. Unlike the Australian group, the U.S. money transfer giant is giving its version for free. Competition will aggravate the regulatory risk Afterpay and Swedish rival Klarna already face.
Russian conglomerate finds discount hard to shake 3 Sep 2020 Sistema wants to put a value on resilient companies such as online retailer Ozon and wood pulp maker Segezha. That’s logical: the $2.7 bln group trades at a hefty discount to its investments. But its oligarch owner, poor governance and sanctions noise are lasting burdens.
Corona Capital: U.S. debt, Junk bonds, Vaccines 3 Sep 2020 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: U.S. debt rises to levels not seen since World War Two; this year’s returns on high-yield debt turn positive despite the coronavirus; and Donald Trump’s hope of a vaccine by Nov. 1 is dangerously political.
Corona Capital: Bumble IPO, SPACs 2 Sep 2020 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The Blackstone-backed dating site may be eyeing an $8 bln valuation if it goes public next year, more than twice its pre-virus price tag. Ex-MGM exec Harry Sloan adds online gaming to his blank-check company empire.
Quirky governance puts blemish on beauty tech IPO 2 Sep 2020 The Hut Group’s 4.5 bln pound London market debut is riding a pandemic-fuelled boost in online sales for own-brand products like Myprotein. But baking in a semi super-vote for founder Matthew Moulding, which effectively allows him to block takeovers, may dull future successes.
Corona Capital: Zooming through Covid 1 Sep 2020 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Zoom Video Communications, the ubiquitous video-calling outfit, reports another blowout quarter.
Telecom Italia network spinoff is imperfect 1 Sep 2020 Selling a chunk of its grid to KKR for 1.8 bln euros should help the operator fund investment in faster connections. Other indebted European telcos may follow. But a messy merger with state-backed rival Open Fiber risks choking competition and stalling Italy’s broadband upgrade.
Rocket’s $3 bln delisting leaves investors adrift 1 Sep 2020 Even as tech stocks surge, Oliver Samwer’s German investment vehicle has concluded it doesn’t belong on the public market. His plan to take Rocket Internet private gives small shareholders two unappealing options: cash out with no premium or hang on with little hope of liquidity.
Corona Capital: TikTok, India’s GDP 31 Aug 2020 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Video app Triller says it has offered $20 bln for parts of its much larger rival, but the bid makes no sense; India’s virus-hit economy is probably hurting more than the latest figures suggest.
Snowflake IPO may test cloud heights 28 Aug 2020 The data-warehouse firm is more than doubling revenue, but sports big losses, too. Sticky corporate IT spending and customers’ fear of having no alternative to giants like Amazon bolsters Snowflake’s potential. But rivals’ valuations mean its IPO price is likely to hit thin air.
Ant charts a course for Western banks and Big Tech 28 Aug 2020 The Chinese fintech sources consumer and small business loans, which it then passes on to lenders for a small fee. Amazon, Apple or Alphabet could conceivably do the same elsewhere. Banks would lose the customer relationship, but could also cut costs and piggyback on new data.
TikTok starts to attract a FOMO premium 27 Aug 2020 Walmart’s interest in teaming up with Microsoft to buy the China-backed video app makes sense only in that TikTok is one of a kind, and ByteDance is a forced seller. Like rival bidder Oracle, Walmart is taking a strategic detour. History offers sad examples of how that can end.
TikTok CEO exit makes chaos even harder to tame 27 Aug 2020 Kevin Mayer is leaving after three months. It's no surprise with the video app owned by China's ByteDance facing a split and sale or a U.S. ban. But a buyer, be it Microsoft, Oracle or otherwise, could have used his help – after all, he has 100 days more experience than they do.
Delivery Hero M&A feast is DAX-doubtful 27 Aug 2020 The $18 billion food delivery company is buying its way into new, unproven businesses. It just replaced the fraudulent Wirecard in the German blue-chip index, not usually the home of unprofitable and highly acquisitive startups. Expect some adventures.
Ant’s big reveal is cost of financial disruption 27 Aug 2020 The Chinese fintech giant's IPO filings show its core consumer lending unit was hit by new rules in 2018, forcing it to upend its business model. Swapping margins for fees has paid well so far. It’s less risky too. Ant survived and thrived, but Beijing is keeping watch.
Xiaomi is next Apple of China’s eye 27 Aug 2020 The $65 bln smartphone maker has exploited Washington's attacks on Huawei to take overseas market share. Its suite of gadgets look similar to the Cupertino giant's, and Xiaomi has maintained a bland political profile at home and abroad. That’s about to pay off.
Palantir has “chosen sides” for its listing, too 26 Aug 2020 CEO Alex Karp says the U.S. analytics firm has done that, only working for friendly powers. After 17 years Palantir has a history of losses and just 125 customers. And it wants to perpetuate its founders' control. The firm looks to have sided with them over incoming investors.
The Exchange: Telecoms mogul David McCourt 25 Aug 2020 The pandemic has made connecting rural areas a global priority. The Irish-American cable entrepreneur explains to Aimee Donnellan why he returned to Dublin to roll out a 3 billion euro broadband programme, and how the Covid-19 crisis created an opportunity to transform business.
China’s Ant can gobble up $200 bln valuation 25 Aug 2020 The fintech firm’s IPO filing shows it handled $17 trln worth of online payments in the year to June. Earnings are volatile, but the trend is strongly positive. The Alibaba affiliate is well placed in the expanding Chinese market. The mooted price tag looks conservative.