E-commerce

Corona Capital: Nike, Microsoft and retail pain

26 Jun 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Bad news for landlords. Nike’s online sales surged during the lockdown even as stores were mostly closed. Meanwhile, Microsoft is shutting most of its retail outlets — for good.

SoftBank-Alibaba distancing has further to go

25 Jun 2020

Masayoshi Son is leaving the e-commerce group’s board after 15 years. The Japanese group just raised $11.5 bln using some of its Alibaba stake; its valuation discount gives it reason to keep selling. Being a major investor in both U.S. and Chinese firms will also only get harder.

Corona Capital: A tax on martinis

24 Jun 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Uncle Sam has bad news for those enjoying the libation during lockdown as it’s putting up import duties on gin, vodka and olives.

Amazon’s climate fund is a worthy sideshow

23 Jun 2020

The $1.3 trln e-commerce giant’s new $2 bln fund could invest in everything from energy storage to farms. Google’s green-energy experience shows even better focused bets often don’t pay off. Investing to deploy existing technology does. Jeff Bezos’ outfit will do that too.

Corona Capital: Payments systems, Shale

22 Jun 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Payments systems get some good news, shale oil drilling’s double whammy.

E-commerce boost is about more than Amazon

17 Jun 2020

Lockdowns have trained people to shop online, including for formerly lagging goods like groceries. That has helped Jeff Bezos but even more so digital sales at Walmart and other retailers like Target and Home Depot. The future may be a lot to do with balancing clicks and bricks.

EU’s data harpoon won’t be last shot at Amazon

11 Jun 2020

The European Commission may soon charge Jeff Bezos’s company over the alleged use of data gathered from third-party sellers to unfairly compete against them. Antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager may well already be lining up the next salvo, perhaps targeting Amazon's advertising.

Goldman’s new direction cashes in on its old one

10 Jun 2020

The Wall Street firm’s plan to lend to Amazon vendors takes its consumer aspirations up a notch. Whizzy tech and lack of banking baggage play in its favor. There’s also a whiff of old-school Goldman qualities, like a knack for milking relationships, and supreme self-confidence.

Complacency is as much a disruptor as antitrust

8 Jun 2020

Big Tech critics credit the 1969 push to break up IBM for spurring the today’s software industry. But it was as much Big Blue’s shortsightedness that led to others’ power. As probes of newer tech companies ramp up, Microsoft, with similar challenges, tells a more promising story.

Battle for Russia’s Amazon crown is heating up

5 Jun 2020

The country’s biggest lender Sberbank may buy a 30% stake in online marketplace Ozon after untangling itself from rival Yandex. The deal could value it at more than $2 bln. There’s room for both players in a market enjoying a Covid-19 boost, but the usual political caveats apply.

JD stock sale helps illuminate China’s have-nots

5 Jun 2020

The $70 bln Beijing-based online retailer will be next with a second listing, in Hong Kong. Others are bound to follow, but not all 175 trading on New York exchanges can access this safety valve from a U.S. backlash. Some may need to go private and hibernate for a while.

Amazon steers towards self-driving leverage

28 May 2020

Jeff Bezos’s $1.2 trln behemoth is one of the obvious big buyers of autonomous vehicles. Acquiring startup Zoox would give it an even bigger say in how the technology gets rolled out. That would also help deepen its customers’ dependence on Amazon’s fast and cheap shipping.

Meituan Dianping cooks up some tasty scraps

25 May 2020

Covid-19 hit China’s $83 bln takeaway-to-taxis company, whose quarterly sales fell 13%. The outlook is shaky, but more restaurants have signed up and new initiatives like contactless delivery should provide value longer-term. Merging Western peers are in comparative disarray.

Alibaba may be China’s secret stimulus weapon

22 May 2020

The e-commerce firm is benefiting as millions of shoppers turn online - quarterly sales rose 22% to $16 bln. But overall domestic demand is weak and Alibaba has been handing out subsidies to kickstart businesses. That makes the $569 bln giant ideally suited to revive consumption.

Walmart deserves credit for toilet-paper readiness

19 May 2020

Its biggest rival Amazon is still better at delivery services, which is key right now. But Walmart is ahead of the grocery game, and curb-side pickup will get a boost, too, even after lockdowns ease. And yet its stock is up half as much. Being in Jeff Bezos’ shadow has a price.

Delivery app dares Shanghai-to-New York IPO route

15 May 2020

Dada Nexus, backed by JD and Walmart, aims to raise $500 mln on the Nasdaq even as U.S. political backlash against Chinese companies intensifies. Luckin’s scandal raises fresh doubts, as do stock performances of recent debuts. And yet rival bourses are struggling to capitalise.

China’s JD flexes virus muscle memory

14 May 2020

Since forging its online business model during the 2003 SARS outbreak, the company has grown into a $70 bln force. With logistics providing a Covid-19 edge over Alibaba, JD’s quarterly sales are seen rising 13%. The momentum should help ease plans to raise $3 bln in Hong Kong.

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.

Big Tech will emerge from virus too big to fail

28 Apr 2020

Amazon is an essential service keeping families supplied in a pandemic. The Apple-Google alliance on contact tracing will aid efforts to reopen economies. Facebook’s reach has disrupted virus disinformation. Their size is an asset in a crisis, making it harder to break them up.

Groceries are gluttony for India’s takeaway giants

28 Apr 2020

Couriers of prepared food are increasingly pushing into dried and fresh fare. It’s a bigger prize in a market dominated by home cooking. That could make SoftBank-backed Grofers, last valued at $650 mln, appealing to Zomato. Such meal combos are unlikely to deliver value, however.