Conglomerates

Unilever and Nestlé offer two flavours of India

2 May 2024

Weak rural demand ate into earnings at the $63 bln local unit of the Dove soap maker. By contrast, its smaller and more-richly valued Swiss rival grew profit thanks to a larger share of urban customers. The divergent fortunes point to the limits of the Indian consumer’s wallet.

Amazon is the everything-plus-AI store

30 Apr 2024

The $1.8 trln company is still dominating e-commerce and cloud computing, as first-quarter earnings show. But its valuation trails Microsoft’s, which has plunged into AI. Boss Andy Jassy will play catchup in the coming year. But Amazon may not be as behind as investors think.

How Patrick Drahi can clamber out of his debt hole

11 Apr 2024

The tycoon’s Altice telecom empire is straining under $60 bln of borrowings, and creditors of its French unit are gunning for a fight. Yet loose bond terms, and the debt’s low trading prices, lend Drahi an escape route. He just needs to hope investors have short memories.

Capital Calls: Philips

10 Apr 2024

Concise views on global finance: The Dutch company’s CEO Roy Jakobs secured a win by finalising a settlement with US regulators over faulty sleep aids. But myriad other potentially costly cases remain open, justifying an ongoing share-price discount.

Bayer’s inertia will make mounting problems worse

5 Mar 2024

The $30 bln seeds and drugs maker has ruled out a rapid breakup. Bayer could have used a consumer health sale to cut debt and offset bigger US litigation costs. Betting instead that it can grow its way out of trouble risks exacerbating a yawning discount to the sum of its parts.

Ambani wedding puts new spin on Indian business

4 Mar 2024

CEOs of BP, Brookfield and Meta were among those attending Anant Ambani’s pre-nuptials bash in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Rich families are answering premier Narendra Modi’s call to shun overseas extravaganzas. For India, the prize goes well beyond the $50 bln marriage industry.

Post-crisis Adani is cranking up his IPO factory

29 Feb 2024

Indian tycoon Gautam Adani is on a comeback from a short-seller attack that stress-tested his $200 bln empire. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists explain how the spotlight impacted his group and look at the next crop of listed companies it is set to produce.

Stephen King ghost-writes trustbusting bestseller

27 Feb 2024

The US FTC is suing to block the $25 bln merger of grocers Kroger and Albertsons partly because of perceived harm to union labor. It resembles, oddly enough, a winning DOJ lawsuit over Penguin’s deal to buy Simon & Schuster. The case has a good shot at becoming a horror classic.

Capital Calls: Lyft

14 Feb 2024

Concise views on global finance: The US ride-hailing firm mistakenly forecast 500 basis points of margin improvement for 2024, causing its stock to surge some 60% before it came back to earth.

Arm’s weirdly high valuation has legs

13 Feb 2024

The $150 bln chip designer’s shares have doubled since last week’s positive outlook. The good news supports a higher valuation, but Arm’s current level is excessive. Yet with a small free float and majority owner SoftBank unlikely to sell any time soon, it may stay in the clouds.

Abu Dhabi’s new spinoff raises familiar questions

8 Jan 2024

The $245 bln International Holding Company is taking over a $27 bln group of assets from its royal parent. As with previous IHC deals, it’s hard to judge this one’s value or purpose. Unlike transactions by local oil giant ADNOC, it won’t aid the UAE’s hunt for foreign capital.

The Li clan will deal their way out of value trap

20 Dec 2023

The Hong Kong-based empire founded by Li Ka-shing is unloved by investors. Despite his son Victor’s efforts to boost value, the $20 bln CK Hutchison trades at a big discount to its net assets. With 80% of revenue outside Greater China, it makes sense to explore a sale or breakup.

Gautam Adani can afford a smile about crisis year

15 Dec 2023

The tycoon’s empire has pared huge stock price losses after a short-seller attack in January. Some questions remain, but the saga is emerging as a win-win. In many ways, Hindenburg Research did Adani and India a favour, while enabling opportunistic investors to make a fortune.

EU watchdogs muck up Amazon’s messy iRobot cleanup

28 Nov 2023

The European Commission says the e-commerce giant’s $1.4 bln takeover of the Roomba maker could shut out robot-vacuum rivals. Trustbusters are mainly concerned about Amazon’s market clout. Yet if the deal collapses, iRobot shareholders will suffer more downward suction.

Capital Calls: Carlyle, Panasonic

22 Nov 2023

Concise views on global finance: The US private equity firm is making a decent return selling its stake in McDonald’s China back to the burger chain. The $25 bln Japanese conglomerate is offloading a chunk of its low-margin automotive unit and will consider a listing, too.

Capital Calls: Goodyear, Target

15 Nov 2023

Concise views on global finance: By offloading assets, the 125-year-old tire maker is succumbing to a similar overhaul as many other iconic US industrial centenarians; the $60 bln retailer has finally taken aim at what it can control – keeping watch over inventory and costs.

Capital Calls: SoftBank

10 Nov 2023

Concise views on global finance: The Japanese conglomerate’s finance chief reckons its Vision Funds have ‘hit a bottom’. The firm’s broader surprise $6.2 bln quarterly loss, though, prompted shareholders to wipe 9% off the stock.

Amazon’s health push is a too-costly prescription

8 Nov 2023

The tech giant is slashing membership prices at its US doctors’ practice, One Medical, to $99 for Prime members. Primary care burns cash, and unlike digital efforts a chase for scale seems unlikely to help. It’s a pricey strategic drift to secure some extra subscriber loyalty.

Hess deal would be higher-octane with cash added

25 Oct 2023

The takeover target’s rich valuation grants it a chunky stake in an enlarged Chevron. But the $53 bln merger now offers no premium and only shares in an underperforming acquiror. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth may have to bid against himself by throwing in a sweetener with hard currency.

If Amazon, why not Walmart?

25 Oct 2023

Lina Khan’s FTC argues the e-commerce giant’s dominance leaves sellers and customers little choice, even though shopping habits vary. The agency also targets common pricing strategies. By this logic, it’s hard to see what’s so different from the Walton family’s mega-retailer.