Capital Calls: Apollo, Microsoft 20 May 2021 Concise views on global finance: The second of the asset manager’s three founders moves on; the software firm is pulling the plug on Internet Explorer.
The Exchange: Trip.com CEO Jane Sun 18 May 2021 Where are Chinese travellers headed these days? How is the pandemic changing outbound tourism and business travel? Will China’s recent anti-monopoly regulations affect Trip’s approach to partnerships and deals? Sun shares her views in an exclusive discussion with Breakingviews.
Capital Calls: AT&T’s bankers, Blackstone in Italy 17 May 2021 Concise views on global finance: The U.S. telecom giant’s unwinding of its purchase of Time Warner is a gift for advisers on Wall Street; a court rules that the U.S. private equity firm’s 2013 purchase of Corriere della Sera’s HQ was valid.
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.
Capital Calls: Uber, Roblox 11 May 2021 Concise views on global finance: Free rides for Covid jabs won’t help the ride-hailing app’s labor battle with Washington; the online games platform’s year-on-year growth decelerated sharply in April.
Star tempts Crown with riskier game of chance 10 May 2021 The Aussie casino operator is proposing an all-stock merger valuing its larger rival at $7.1 bln, including synergies. The deal is loaded with iffy assumptions about benefits that would take time to materialise. Even so, Blackstone will be pressured to sweeten its cash bid again.
Capital Calls: U.S. jobs miss, Elon Musk goes live 7 May 2021 Concise views on global finance: Fed boss Jay Powell has his work to do as America adds far fewer jobs than anticipated; drawing an audience of crypto-nerds, Tesla gearheads and regulators won’t be hard for the electric-car maker boss when he hosts SNL. Drawing laughs will be.
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: Chubb and Hartford, Swimming pools 22 Apr 2021 Concise views on global finance: The company led by Evan Greenberg twice raised its bid for its Connecticut rival, but so far to no avail; a blowout quarter for private-pool maker Pool Corp points to buoyant wealth and spending trends, but only for some.
Thruppence: Lessons from a few border crossings 19 Apr 2021 Lockdowns are easing in some countries as vaccination efforts pick up. But professionals eager to get back on the road still need to become quick studies on the fine print of pandemic-era international travel rules. Three itinerant Breakingviews columnists share their notes.
Capital Calls: Goldman Sachs, U.S. currency report 16 Apr 2021 Concise views on global finance: The Wall Street bank’s communications veteran, Jake Siewert, goes back to the future, sort of; Taiwan is dubbed a forex interventionist but avoids manipulator label.
Viewsroom: Cross-border travel hassles, Alibaba 15 Apr 2021 For businesspeople eager to get back on the road, three lucky Breakingviews editors share their experiences of hopping across the Atlantic, traveling to India and navigating Europe’s arbitrary rules. Asia columnists discuss how Beijing has come down hard on Jack Ma’s tech empire.
Capital Calls: Christine Lagarde, Bernie Madoff 14 Apr 2021 Concise views on global finance: The European Central Bank president’s quest for inflation will take a while to achieve its goal; investor gullibility will live on after the death of the Ponzi schemer in a U.S. federal prison.
Capital Calls: Netflix, GameStop 9 Apr 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The video-streaming service sprays webs of money to secure movies; GameStop’s “Chewy of Gaming” strategy.
Air France-KLM’s latest rescue tests marriage bond 6 Apr 2021 The European carrier is swapping a loan from the French state for hybrid equity and raising 1 bln euros from investors. The capital rejig should help it stay aloft if the recovery is delayed. But Paris’ increased stake will strain its already tricky relationship with the Dutch.
Capital Calls: Twitter time-wasting, News Corp 25 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Congressional hearings on Big Tech get ever less productive; meanwhile, the parent of the Wall Street Journal snaps up Investor’s Business Daily.
Capital Calls: Defence IPO, ViacomCBS and GameStop 24 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Italy’s Leonardo postpones the initial public offering of its U.S. unit; ViacomCBS and GameStop's rising stocks give them both a chance to raise fresh cash.
Capital Calls: Airline IPO, Turkey’s central bank 18 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: U.S. regional air carrier Sun Country Airlines’ IPO pop is justified by positive cash flow; Turkey shows how emerging-market policymakers face trickier choices than their rich-world peers.
Capital Calls: New York, Allegro exit 17 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The Big Apple reigns in a new ranking of global cities, but the prize isn’t what it was; shareholders in Polish e-commerce group Allegro sell down early.
Capital Calls: Netflix, ECB, Glass Lewis, Zalando 16 Mar 2021 Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The streaming service’s password-sharing crackdown twists the knife; the central bank worries about identifying bad loans; the proxy adviser’s sale underscores its place on Wall Street; the online fashion giant’s bold targets.