Features

LVMH’s opaque succession merits investor discount

15 Apr 2025

The $300 bln luxury giant wants shareholders to raise the retirement age for chair and CEO Bernard Arnault to 85, perhaps giving him another decade in charge. Lack of clarity about who takes over, or how his five children will share control, weighs on the group’s enviable record.

EU’s SpaceX rival demands more than financial fuel

10 Apr 2025

Europe wants a home-grown alternative to Elon Musk’s rockets-and-satellites firm. That will require state largesse: SpaceX became a giant with the help of $28 bln in US government contracts. But it will also need supportive policy, new technologies and far greater ambition.

Big Pharma has partial immunity from Trump tariffs

9 Apr 2025

The US is threatening to hit the $1.7 trln sector, having initially spared drugmakers like Roche and Eli Lilly. The market’s complexity offers some protection and disruptions may cost lives. This means import levies are likely to be less painful than for car or steelmakers.

Texas market bulls run into ferocious bear case

8 Apr 2025

Nasdaq and NYSE are galloping to Dallas, where a new BlackRock-backed exchange is riding a broader financial-hub charge. Big Apple bourses yeehaw over $6 trln of Lone Star market cap as Y’All Street tries to lasso nearby states too. For now, the campaign is more hat than cattle.

Silver Lake’s sharp elbows risk being dislocated

3 Apr 2025

The buyout firm co-led by Egon Durban squared off with Carl Icahn to acquire Dell and is clashing with hedge funds over Hollywood shop Endeavor. Tiny vacation rental outfit Vacasa may be its defining battle, however. Rival suitor Davidson Kempner threatens the savage reputation.

China’s love of open-source AI may shut down fast

1 Apr 2025

Through DeepSeek and others Beijing is giving away its hottest innovations. Global collaboration helps companies to reduce costs, skirt US sanctions, and speed adoption of Chinese standards. But there are good reasons authorities may soon decide to keep their best tech at home.

Trump tariff liberation means endless complication

1 Apr 2025

The US president is preparing to reveal levies on imports worth trillions of dollars. That will kick off a process of retaliation and negotiation which may last years. Trump’s devotion to using tariffs to tackle a range of American woes means trade uncertainty is here to stay.

Mini nuclear reactor rush has a short half-life

31 Mar 2025

AI’s ravenous appetite for always-on power has drawn the likes of Google and OpenAI boss Sam Altman into the race to build cheaper atom-splitters. But aspirations to triple nuke power could cost $7 trln, while cheap renewables already benefit from the vaunted economies of scale.

How UBS can soften or swerve $25 bln capital blow

27 Mar 2025

Swiss lawmakers might whack the bank with demands for extra equity. Chair Colm Kelleher could dodge the punch by moving its head office, but that would be risky. Better for UBS to cushion the impact by shrinking the investment bank - or even offloading its US wealth unit.

China has shaky upper hand in battle of the robots

26 Mar 2025

Elon Musk and Nvidia's Jensen Huang have talked up the potential of humanoid machines. Unitree and peers in the People's Republic have an early lead thanks to the country's sophisticated manufacturing supply chains. But US tech sanctions risk derailing China's robot rise.