People

Telegram and X expose tech platforms’ new reality

12 Sep 2024

The arrest of Pavel Durov, founder of the controversial messaging app, and the ban of X in Brazil shows state officials are not afraid to intervene in Big Tech. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists debate what it means and how CEOs should manage the threat.

Hedgie’s magazine deal is hazy UK media buy signal

10 Sep 2024

Paul Marshall’s 100 mln pound bid for the Spectator values the right-wing publication at over 40 times EBITDA. His generosity will encourage seller Jeff Zucker and partners they can find a similarly blithe buyer for the Telegraph. But the market for political clout has limits.

Michel Barnier joins Macron’s last chance saloon

5 Sep 2024

French President Emmanuel Macron picked the former Brexit negotiator to form a government after inconclusive elections. The choice will antagonise the Left and divide the Right. It may buy Paris some time with Brussels on its budget. But the weak executive will have a short life.

Telegram’s route to profitability looks dubious

3 Sep 2024

The troubled app’s CEO Pavel Durov runs a lossmaking enterprise. The easiest path to profitability is to echo Facebook, but content moderation costs would further hit Telegram’s finances. The main alternative is to be a messaging app, but WhatsApp implies that’s hard to monetise.

Murdoch’s UK property gambit has a price ceiling

2 Sep 2024

Australian property listings site REA Group is eyeing $6 bln UK peer Rightmove. The News Corp-backed suitor can use cash and higher-valued shares to pay a 30% premium. Beyond that, Rupert Murdoch’s outfit might struggle to combine a successful bid with keeping him in control.

Aussie exports could do without education squeeze

30 Aug 2024

The government wants to cap visas for new overseas learners, its fourth-largest source of foreign income. The policy has some merit but makes immigration, which includes student visas, a scapegoat for economic woes. With top exports like iron ore under pressure, it’s ill timed.

Telegram CEO arrest is fuzzy warning to Big Tech

28 Aug 2024

Paris prosecutors detained Pavel Durov as part of a probe into illicit activity on the app. The specifics of the case and French law have little read across for rivals like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk. Yet a global scandal will heap pressure on platforms to clean up content.

Succession stakes in India Inc keep rising

7 Aug 2024

Gautam Adani, 62, says his four heirs will co-run his sprawling $200 bln infrastructure empire when he retires. That aims to retain the benefits of size. All three of India's top business families face a similar challenge. Their plans will shape the $3.5 trln economy.

China’s leaders pitch their tent in a rainstorm

25 Jul 2024

The five-yearly Communist Party meeting known as the Third Plenum is historically tied with economic policy shifts. Slowing growth and rising trade tensions make the timing apt. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss what the event means for China’s future.

Trump 2.0 might be the same, but much more

18 Jul 2024

After an earth-shaking few weeks in US politics, the Republican presidential candidate’s odds of returning to the White House look higher. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss what a second term might look like, and why Trump might be empowered this time.

HSBC makes right call on CEO, three months late

17 Jul 2024

Georges Elhedery, the $160 bln bank’s new boss, always looked the best available option. HSBC’s current CFO will have a job managing slower growth and tricky Chinese relations. Had the lender endorsed him in April alongside Noel Quinn’s exit, he would be on a firmer footing.

European boards have too little skin in the game

17 Jul 2024

Non-executive directors at big US companies get 60% of their pay in equity. That’s rare in Britain, France and Germany, where many board members own a slither of stock. Cash fees warp incentives, discourage engagement, and risk making Europe’s capital markets less competitive.

European board pay requires a US-style overhaul

16 Jul 2024

Non-executive directors at UK and EU-based firms own little equity in the companies they oversee. In this Exchange podcast, Liad Meidar of the hedge fund Gatemore argues that this is a problem, while Peter Boreham of the pay consultancy Mercer explains why it’s hard to change.

Life-or-death moments embolden ‘America First’

14 Jul 2024

After a failed attempt on the life of presidential hopeful Donald Trump, his oft-fractious party is rallying. The effect on a race until now defined by broad public disdain is unclear. But as Trump’s support hardens, so too will polarization, both within the country and overseas.

Ambani wedding allows rich Indians to flaunt it

12 Jul 2024

Anant Ambani's Mumbai nuptials this week cap seven months of extravagant, star-studded celebrations. For many in the deeply inequitable country, the family’s public display of wealth sparks aspiration, not anger. Unlike in China, officials are happy for them to show it off.

Salesforce signals CEO pay is easy come, easy go

2 Jul 2024

In 2023, the $246 bln software giant’s stock price returned four times the S&P. Year-to-date, it has underperformed. Now shareholders have rejected boss Marc Benioff’s pay plan. A shift in spending to AI is haunting Salesforce. Shareholders get antsy when bosses get complacent.

European bosses can only envy Elon Musk

20 Jun 2024

The Tesla chief’s $56 bln pay package is particularly vertiginous, but even less-blessed US CEOs do far better than their European peers. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss how the pay gap shapes executive habits across the Atlantic.

Carlos Slim’s BT stake may just be a prelude

13 Jun 2024

The Mexican billionaire has taken 3% of the $17 bln UK telco. Nationalism, and Slim’s failed 2012 tilt at Dutch peer KPN, imply he won’t launch a full bid. But BT investors Patrick Drahi and Deutsche Telekom may sell their shares if he gets even keener on the group’s turnaround.

Stock handouts might help save the US ruling class

13 Jun 2024

The top 0.1% Americans own a quarter of the $40 trln in share-based wealth while the bottom half has just $400 bln. It’s therefore encouraging to see GE, Walmart and Blackstone-backed firms giving workers equity. Less inequality will better align the interests of poor and rich.

India’s inequality deserves a bigger risk premium

12 Jun 2024

Prime Minister Narendra Modi suffered his biggest electoral blow in one of the nation’s poorest states. By one measure, the gap between haves and have-nots is wider than during British rule. Closing it is tricky. Without change, though, stability will hang by a thread.