Management & Leadership

WPP’s new investor pitch contains too much hot air

11 Dec 2018

CEO Mark Read wants to slash costs and get the $13 bln ad group growing in line with rivals by the end of 2021. That’s the right idea. But his growth plan looks heavier on jargon than detail, while cuts are modest. Overall it’s less convincing than one of WPP’s whizzy campaigns.

Yelp activist push is worthy of five stars

10 Dec 2018

The $3 bln online review site has gone through management fumbles, fierce competition and a slumping share price. No wonder investor SQN is calling for fresh thinking. With Google and Facebook fighting bigger battles, Yelp should be doing better at winning over small advertisers.

The Exchange: Joe Kaeser

10 Dec 2018

It’s hard to imagine a company embodying as many of the challenges and opportunities of 21st century capitalism as Siemens. The German conglomerate’s CEO swings by Times Square to discuss trade, breakups, power, automation, labor, Saudi Arabia and lots in between with Rob Cox.

Governor’s exit kills myth of India’s central bank

10 Dec 2018

Urjit Patel's resignation after a spat with New Delhi makes him the second chief to leave in almost as many years. That removes the illusion of independence. Finding a successor will be tough too. Investors will now significantly reprice risk as India hurtles into elections.

Och-Ziff truce and rejig are small mercies

6 Dec 2018

Daniel Och is finally giving up his pioneering listed hedge-fund creation. After massive value destruction and a power struggle, he is ceding control and a big ownership stake. The firm will also be taxed as a corporation, not a partnership. For investors, the road back is long.

Sears gets right kind of message from wrong person

6 Dec 2018

Chairman Eddie Lampert is offering $4.6 bln to buy the U.S. retailer out of bankruptcy and save 50,000 jobs. Focusing on employees is laudable. But Lampert failed to turn Sears around in more than a decade of trying. Its staff and advisers would be better off with new ideas.

Albert Frere’s heirs can eliminate market discount

5 Dec 2018

The death of Belgium’s richest man casts a spotlight on GBL, the 13 bln euro group he co-founded. Despite past canny investments, it’s valued at a hefty discount to stakes in companies like Adidas and Pernod Ricard. Selling assets and beefing up private deals could change that.

China hangs corruption sword over tech giants

5 Dec 2018

The arrest of a senior executive at Alibaba, the head of its video-streaming unit, suggests an anti-graft crackdown will not spare web titans. For investors, a tighter grip on tycoons like Tencent’s Pony Ma will be costly. Poor disclosure is adding to the problem.

Ted Baker is stuck in a bear hug trap

4 Dec 2018

Ray Kelvin’s habit of embracing employees has become a liability for investors. If an internal probe shows he is culpable of more than unwanted coziness, the fashion brand could push its largest shareholder away. Even if he holds on, Ted Baker will grapple with other challenges.

Ghosn’s jail time risks poisoning alliance talks

4 Dec 2018

Nissan's former boss, accused of understating his pay, could see out the year behind bars, a local paper says - without being charged. His harsh treatment widens the gulf between Paris and Tokyo, making a deal on future ties between the Japanese carmaker and Renault even tougher.

Shell’s climate pay gesture lacks thermostat

3 Dec 2018

Linking executive bonuses to carbon targets, as the $258 billion giant has pledged to do, should focus bosses’ minds. Yet the goals and sums involved are unclear, and the plan only starts in 2020. Investors can do more to hold energy groups’ feet to the fire on emissions.

Glencore offers glimpse of life after Glasenberg

3 Dec 2018

The commodities group shuffled its upper ranks in the most significant management overhaul in years. The departure of copper kingpin Telis Mistakidis and promotion of others is a first step towards reshaping the group to cope with the eventual departure of boss Ivan Glasenberg.

Fraud case reminds that bad M&A is a team effort

30 Nov 2018

U.S. prosecutors are trying to prove Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch deceived buyer HP in an $11 bln deal gone wrong. Such things tend to be a team effort. While fuzzy accounting rules that fostered this dispute are less of an issue now, the forces behind disastrous deals are evergreen.

GM top-tier reshuffle may both boost and backfire

29 Nov 2018

The $52 bln carmaker’s second-in-command Dan Ammann is taking the wheel at Cruise, the unit that makes self-driving vehicles. The ex-Wall Streeter is the right person to whip it into shape and prepare for a possible IPO. But GM boss Mary Barra is losing her chief problem solver.

Viewsroom: Climate risk is investing opportunity

29 Nov 2018

Experts reckon unrestrained global warming will lop 10 pct off U.S. GDP by 2100. California’s wildfires prove it’s already having disastrous effects. But investors and companies alike can be part of the solution. Plus, Carlos Ghosn’s arrest leaves three carmakers in disarray.

Powell and Carney at least know their own limits

29 Nov 2018

The Fed chair irks U.S. President Donald Trump when rates rise, while the Bank of England boss took all-around flak for unveiling worst-case Brexit scenarios. Central bankers are imperfect but, unlike some critics, they rarely claim infallibility and usually show their workings.

New Unilever CEO’s hard graft will come later

29 Nov 2018

Insider Alan Jope has the right skills to deliver the sound strategy that he inherits from Paul Polman. But a share-structure change that the consumer giant had to ditch may need be revisited. The big deals needed to boost slow growth will be harder to clinch with a dual listing.

Hadas: How to stop radical CEOs from going rogue

28 Nov 2018

Renault and then Nissan hired Carlos Ghosn to subvert conventions. But the will to transgress is hard to keep within boundaries. Companies have four defences against talented but errant bosses: bureaucracy, conscience, boards and punishments. All of them can be strengthened.

Dan Loeb’s soup victory is best served warm

26 Nov 2018

His activist fund Third Point is getting two members on Campbell Soup’s board. It’s a bigger win than the single seat cage-rattler Nelson Peltz got at P&G. Still, Loeb has been highly critical of Campbell, and his tactics were more aggressive. He has some buttering up to do.

How Nissan could get the upper hand with Renault

23 Nov 2018

After ousting Chairman Carlos Ghosn, the Japanese carmaker wants more say in an unequal alliance. Given the partnership’s lopsided governance, Nissan’s best bet would be to snap up shares in Renault, neutralising its controlling stake. Ghosn’s exit makes a hostile raid easier.