United States of America

Nike’s boss is on a runaway turnaround treadmill

21 Mar 2025

CEO Elliott Hill issued a disappointing sales forecast, sending shares down 7%. A sneaker glut may require deep discounting and the tired brand needs a jumpstart. Investors’ benefit of the doubt is stretched to breaking point as earnings plunge, threatening yet more pain.

Capital One’s deal disquiet puts rage in arbitrage

21 Mar 2025

Hedge funds bet heavily that a new administration would allow the credit card issuer’s $35 bln purchase of Discover. A plunge in the seller’s shares proves that Wall Street is struggling to heed what Republicans actually say about scrutinizing industry, threatening more blow-ups.

Physiotherapy app has some heavy IPO lifting to do

21 Mar 2025

Hinge Health, last valued at $6.2 bln, is trying to shape up how patients recover from injuries. Its finances are getting stronger, with corporate clients and insurers footing bills. User churn is a risk, however, and the company is ill-equipped to fix a limping stock market.

Big state backlash may pay biggest dividends in UK

20 Mar 2025

Elected leaders from Argentina to the US are pledging to cut spending, shrink the state, and cut red tape. Despite similar rhetoric their priorities are very different, as are the potential rewards. In the developed world, Britain’s approach has the best chance of success.

SoftBank chip splurge is not as crazy as it looks

20 Mar 2025

The Japanese investor is paying $6.5 bln in cash to buy Ampere, a maker of power-saving semiconductors for data centres. Buying a loss-making target with declining sales may seem reckless. But if SoftBank’s other businesses can use the valuable chips it could be worth it.

An $11 bln deal devalues ‘undervalued’ defense

20 Mar 2025

Beacon Roofing argued for months that bidder QXO’s cash offer slighted its real worth, only to acquiesce after a 0.08% bump. The knee-jerk rejoinder is a transparent ploy to squeeze more from suitors. It would have more power if CEOs and investment bankers invoked it less often.

Citi bonuses provide helpful how-not-to guide

20 Mar 2025

The US mega-bank is doling out the last portion of three-year, $5 mln awards aimed at helping improve persistent risk and control lapses. The top brass fell short, slashing the final payout ratio to 68%. Even that is too much in a sign of how badly the plan was designed.

US markets’ exceptionalism goes into reverse

20 Mar 2025

After years of setting the global pace, the S&P 500 Index has dropped 9% from its peak while Hong Kong and Europe benchmarks rise. In this week’s Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss whether trade wars and threats to the rule of law portend a durable shift.

Oval Office attacks on US law come at a price

19 Mar 2025

The Trump administration’s blitz on judges, independent agencies and contracts destabilizes the governance that underpins investors’ confidence. Even if courts mute some of the tumult, the country’s risk-free status is quickly eroding. A 0% debt premium is no longer warranted.

New $7.4 bln opioids deal eases some legal pain

19 Mar 2025

After courts rejected Purdue Pharma’s earlier proposal, the Sackler family is kicking in $1 bln more and dropping a litigation shield. It improves on overly lax bankruptcy proceedings. Painkiller peer Mallinckrodt shows the lingering effects of bad settlements.

China has spicy menu of US trade war reprisals

19 Mar 2025

Donald Trump has yet to impose the levies he threatened on the $19 trln economy. Yet the People’s Republic has a banquet of options, from non-tariff barriers and squeezing firms like Tesla to devaluing the yuan and banning rare earth exports. Escalation means indigestion for all.

Google’s $32 bln Wiz deal lumbers on down the road

18 Mar 2025

The search giant is buying the cybersecurity platform for 39% more than the price mooted during talks in 2024. It may aid Google’s struggles in the cloud market, but hostile regulators, a commitment to sell to rivals and the spiraling cost set a dizzyingly high bar for success.

UK will struggle to sit out Trump’s tariff war

18 Mar 2025

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has eschewed Brussels-style retaliation after the president put import levies on steel. That’s logical, but neutrality will get harder as EU-US tensions rise. His best hope is that tariff damage forces a US U-turn before he has to side with Europe.

Stingy Uncle Sam subverts both suppliers and state

18 Mar 2025

Abrupt spending cuts and pressure to justify existing deals are wreaking havoc on US government contractors from Lockheed to Pfizer. Some $760 bln of annual outlays are at risk, spooking investors. Worse, frugality threatens to impair national strategic capabilities for decades.

Why financial warfare could backfire on the US

18 Mar 2025

Washington has sharpened the dollar and technology into powerful weapons. Now erstwhile allies fear they are targets. In this episode of The Big View podcast Edward Fishman, the author of ‘Chokepoints’, explains how economic interdependence is increasingly at odds with security.

Murdoch estate sale may be only way to fix legacy

17 Mar 2025

The media tycoon has failed to entrench his son Lachlan at Fox and News Corp, leaving him with few good options. Selling the two companies, which have a combined market value of $39 bln, would be the end of his empire. But it would secure his reputation as a master dealmaker.

Intel’s latest CEO puts ‘great man theory’ to test

17 Mar 2025

The $110 bln chipmaker has cut jobs, tried to expand production for others, and improved manufacturing performance. New boss Lip-Bu Tan promises the same direction, but more movement. As his predecessor found out, changing leaders cannot make up for past semiconductor missteps.

Klarna’s wisest IPO aim is a modest valuation hike

17 Mar 2025

The buy now, pay later firm made a net profit in 2024 as it eyes a US listing. Klarna was once worth $46 bln, but the last funding round only fetched $7 bln. While a new Walmart deal helps, rocky markets and the need for a discount to rival Affirm imply little more than $10 bln.

CK Hutchison is stuck as a geopolitical pawn

17 Mar 2025

The Li clan hoped to escape Washington’s ire over Panama and unlock value by agreeing a $23 bln ports sale to BlackRock. China is pushing back. Whether Beijing can block the deal or not, the Hong Kong conglomerate’s future is for now largely out of executives’ hands.

Oil and gas giants check into heartbreak hotel

14 Mar 2025

The industry’s annual Houston hootenanny featured buoyant talk of invincibility under Trump. It’s an idea as illusory as Elvis, who strangely entered the building. Renewables account for most of the world’s growth, meaning the best fossil fuel producers can expect is stagnation.