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Facebook’s new best friends are a weakening link

8 Jul 2020

Small firms account for a large chunk of the social network’s ad revenue. The pandemic has also made them more dependent on the platform just as big companies from Ford to Unilever boycott it. But a Covid-19 surge may hurt the minnows when CEO Mark Zuckerberg needs them most.

WPP boss gets best of both worlds with PR mash-up

7 Jul 2020

Finsbury and two other companies owned by the $10 bln advertising giant are uniting. The trio’s managers will hold nearly 50% of the new company. CEO Mark Read, who keeps control, benefits if they do well while a simpler structure lets him focus on chasing dwindling ad revenue.

Tencent’s hot sauce fraud exposes expired tech

3 Jul 2020

The Chinese video-games titan appears to have been taken by crooks pretending to work for Lao Gan Ma, a popular spicy condiment, using a forged company seal to ink an advertising deal. Such old-fashioned methods have embroiled others including SoftBank. Digitisation is overdue.

Corporate boycotts expose an inconvenient truth

26 Jun 2020

Brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Verizon are pulling ad spending from Facebook because of racist content. It’s as if capitalism sprouted a conscience. But much as some might claim otherwise, companies just aren’t wired to drive social change. The possible exception: Facebook itself.

Cable networks risk post-virus vicious cycle

7 May 2020

Live sports are a big reason Americans tolerate pricey pay-TV packages. The lack of games is an excuse to cut the cord. Yet the NFL and others will want more for broadcast rights to make up for empty seats. That could push cable bills higher, and more subscribers toward the exit.

Jeff Bezos puts shareholders in the corner

30 Apr 2020

Amazon’s revenue jumped 26% in the first quarter. Conditions are just right: more online shopping and a growing pool of jobless people from which to hire. But shareholders will have to join the queue, thanks to a giveaway of some $4 bln to customers and staff. It's classic Bezos.

Facebook goes on viral offensive

29 Apr 2020

While Alphabet is cutting costs, Facebook will hire 10,000 people and just did its biggest deal since 2014 in India. Revenue growth fell to 18% last quarter, but the $550 bln social network is not slowing down. Mark Zuckerberg can afford to ignore any reluctant shareholders.

Coronavirus can spur ad companies’ transformation

29 Apr 2020

Groups like Publicis and WPP are grappling with the collapse in demand. The crisis may help them shift from traditional advertising into data-led services. Painful cost cuts can speed tough decisions. But it will be hard to judge the success of the shake-up until demand recovers.

Corona Capital: Rich vs. poor, Carnival

31 Mar 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The rich may save even more while the coronavirus rages while the poor will be further squeezed, and Carnival tries to bail out its sinking cruise business with a big sale of equity and debt.

Twitter’s revenue problem is bigger than Covid-19

24 Mar 2020

Users of the social network are flocking but advertisers are bailing as coronavirus content proliferates. But for revenue, it’s the ads that matter most. Twitter may hope to turn its new users into advertising dollars, but being widely read doesn’t guarantee being profitable.

Corona Capital: Religious aid, Ad-spending slump

23 Mar 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence wants Americans to donate to religious institutions to bolster community aid. But churches have their own fiscal problems. Plus: TV ad revenue look set for a pounding.

YouTube makes itself a needless political football

21 Feb 2020

President Trump has bought prominent ads on the video platform on Election Day. That’s because YouTube has enormous reach. Yet, parent Alphabet is in regulators’ crosshairs and campaign money is a tiny slice of revenue. It’s a wonder why it accepts political ads at all.

Twitter’s advertising model gets ratioed

24 Oct 2019

The social network’s shares crashed nearly 20% after it revealed unexpectedly slow summer sales and a slew of issues of its own making such as bugs that hampered targeting ads and sharing data. Fall may be better for ads, but it’s fair to question Twitter’s ability to fix itself.

Google could buff its browser-privacy blemishes

11 Oct 2019

Chrome’s owner lags both Mozilla’s Firefox and Apple’s Safari in trying to make the web less creepy. The prospect of losing revenue may explain Google’s resistance to blocking certain ad trackers. If more users abandon the web’s most popular browser, Google is likely to act.

Publicis turnaround even tougher than it looked

11 Oct 2019

The French group’s shares dropped 12% after its second revenue warning in three months. Traditional advertising is shrinking faster than new consulting-style services can grow. CEO Arthur Sadoun admits the outlook for 2020 is fuzzy. That shows in Publicis’ discounted valuation.

WPP’s turnaround pitch ceases to be brand-dilutive

9 Aug 2019

The $15 bln ad group is still shrinking, but CEO Mark Read has slowed the decline and seemingly ended its habit of repeated profit warnings. Having cut debt and trimmed founder Martin Sorrell’s sprawling empire, Read’s next job is to win some big accounts in the key U.S. market.

Publicis merits bottom place in advertising pile

19 Jul 2019

The French group lost 850 mln euros of market value after disappointing sales forced CEO Arthur Sadoun to scale back 2019 revenue ambitions. Overpriced M&A and broken promises on growth explain why the advertising group’s valuation is lower than peers – even troubled rival WPP.

Publicis’ biggest buy distracts from deeper issues

15 Apr 2019

Chief Executive Arthur Sadoun is spending $4.4 bln on Alliance Data Systems’ Epsilon digital marketing unit. It’s a bold bet on more targeted advertising, but does little to help the French group hit next year’s 4 pct organic revenue growth target, or lure back lost clients.

Publicis’ $5 bln deal would push data fad to limit

1 Apr 2019

The French group may buy Alliance Data’s digital-marketing unit. The mooted price tag is manageable given Publicis’ pristine balance sheet. But the low returns on offer suggest that CEO Arthur Sadoun is worried about keeping up with data-rich ad rivals and tech giants.