People

India starts resembling China in unflattering ways

19 Dec 2024

Growth is slowing and allegations of interference in the West’s affairs are rising. Part of the narrative weighing on the world’s second-largest economy is applicable to its fifth largest. Even if similarities are exaggerated, the connection poses a threat to India’s moment.

Donald Trump will meet his match in bond markets

18 Dec 2024

The president-elect’s bullying and bluster may steamroll any political resistance to tax cuts and tariff hikes. Like many world leaders before him, though, he’s about to feel the punch that debt buyers pack. They’ll beat back an inflationary agenda that imperils US finances.

Oil will aid rather than hinder Trump-MbS bromance

16 Dec 2024

Both the US president-elect and the Saudi crown prince want to pump more crude in 2025. Yet US drillers aren’t certain to do so. And Mohammed bin Salman may be able to extract a quid pro quo in return for deploying spare oil capacity should Donald Trump crack down on Iran.

India needs more, not fewer, powerful tycoons

12 Dec 2024

US charges against Gautam Adani expose the country’s reliance on too few industrialists to meet its strategic goals. Rather than prompting a breakup of conglomerates, the saga may nudge the government to share the spoils of the $4 trln economy with a bigger group of chosen ones.

India compounds new central bank boss’s challenges

10 Dec 2024

Sanjay Malhotra will have enough on his plate as RBI governor dealing with a slowing domestic economy amid rising global tensions. But the messy way in which New Delhi handled the transition from six-year incumbent Shaktikanta Das means Malhotra starts on the back foot.

South Korea curveball adds new 2025 risks

4 Dec 2024

Fallout from Great Power tensions tends to dominate the minds of political and financial leaders. So the abortive coup in the $2 trln economy may seem just a domestic issue. But ructions within the major US ally and chipmaking hub may yet reverberate in Asia and beyond.

New Stellantis CEO’s first job is a US reset

2 Dec 2024

Carlos Tavares’ abrupt exit comes after the $34 bln carmaker hiked prices and lost market share. The ideal new CEO – able to steer a course around Trump, EU emissions rules and new tech – may not exist. Stellantis could settle for a US expert who can get car dealers back on side.

New World paves Hong Kong developers’ way to China

2 Dec 2024

The $2 bln property firm’s second CEO in as many months is an expert in mainland real estate, suggesting an urgent need to deepen ties there. New World’s $20 bln debt pile may be hastening the move, but broader pressures will push healthier peers like CK Hutchison to follow suit.

Gautam Adani is promise and peril of Indian growth

28 Nov 2024

With $31 bln of debt, deep links to the banking system and a star role in India’s energy transition, the tycoon’s empire is a crucial part of the fifth-largest economy. In this week’s Viewsroom, Breakingviews columnists discuss how US bribery charges will test those dependencies.

Tycoons’ odd telco bets mask a greater logic

26 Nov 2024

In recent years high-profile, rich investors like Carlos Slim have snapped up stakes in the likes of $19 bln BT. These haven’t always yielded juicy returns, nor prompted strategic shifts. But as a bet on much-needed consolidation, they may yet end up looking smart.

Gautam Adani’s key man risk is hard to contain

21 Nov 2024

US bribery accusations will narrow financing options for the tycoon’s $146 bln conglomerate more than a short-seller attack did. Other countries may get involved, too. Adani can limit damage by stepping down, but his tight ownership of the empire he built complicates matters.

Schneider fails first test of CEO succession plan

4 Nov 2024

The French electric equipment maker ousted Chief Executive Peter Herweck after finding him slow in the execution of his strategy. The $150 bln group needs to be fast in hot markets like data centres. But firing its boss after 18 months shows its decision-making is also wanting.

Return-to-office gets leg up on work-from-home

17 Oct 2024

A stern back-to-the-desks missive from tech giant Amazon.com represents a new salvo in the battle over post-pandemic norms. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss the weakening position for employees as hiring slows, and the possible unintended consequences.

What Masayoshi Son can teach us about investing

11 Oct 2024

The Japanese tech tycoon backed future giants like China’s Alibaba as well as spectacular flops like office-sharing startup WeWork. A new biography likens him to a high-stakes gambler. But Son’s chequered career also reveals some of the skills of a successful venture capitalist.

Ratan Tata leaves more to India than its tycoons

10 Oct 2024

The former Tata chair, who has died aged 86, put a kind face on capitalism, though his bold cross-border M&A and lingering influence hurt the salt-to-steel conglomerate. The new era of industrialists in the country are financially shrewder but less universally admired.

Decoding the puzzle of SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son

8 Oct 2024

The Japanese tycoon shaped global technology while building and losing vast fortunes. How does he keep going? In the first episode of Breakingviews’ new podcast, The Big View, former FT editor Lionel Barber discusses what he uncovered in his biography of Son, ‘Gambling Man’.

Murdoch leaves Rightmove little room for error

1 Oct 2024

The Australian tycoon’s REA Group walked away after four rejected bids for the UK property listings portal, prompting the latter’s shares to slump. Rightmove can get to the offer price if it grows revenue at 11% a year and keeps its 75% margin. But that’s not simple to do.

Hong Kong property tycoons enter brave new world

26 Sep 2024

Embattled developer New World may replace its CEO, the third-generation scion of the founding Cheng clan, amid a deepening real estate slump. Such a move is nearly unheard of in the city dominated by family-run conglomerates. It will put peers like Henderson Land on notice.

New consumer CEOs start life in the slow lane

24 Sep 2024

Nike joined Campari, Nestlé and Starbucks in abruptly ditching its boss. There’s plenty of scope for the new CEOs to remedy their predecessors’ missteps. But a common thread at the four groups is slowing sales amid consumer weakness, making the turnaround jobs much tougher.

Beijing’s pension plan grasps at a utopian reality

17 Sep 2024

China is raising the retirement age for the first time since the 1950s, and increasing the number of years workers must contribute to receive payouts. Both thresholds remain low but policymakers are right to tread cautiously. Boosting the workforce in a slowing economy is risky.