Social Media

Musk’s Twitter markdown falls short of the mark

27 Mar 2023

In stock grants to the social media app’s shrunken staff, the billionaire owner imputes a $20 bln valuation, or less than half what he paid. Getting there involves financial jiu-jitsu. Include the effects of leverage and falling revenue, and the equity is probably worthless.

TikTok pile-on opens two cans of worms

23 Mar 2023

US lawmakers grilled Shou Zi Chew about his short-form video network’s data collection and influence. Yet these are separate problems – both much bigger than TikTok. There are other Chinese apps that gather US customer details and plenty of homegrown tech firms that sway ideas.

Benefits of US political accord accrue to TikTok

21 Mar 2023

The short-form video platform’s CEO will appear in front of Congress this week. Backlash towards its Chinese parent ByteDance is one place politicians can agree. American media steals eyeballs when its citizens argue. TikTok, then, has an interest in keeping events copasetic.

TikTok sale would trade one threat for another

16 Mar 2023

The White House wants Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the video app to address security concerns. Since the last president tried something similar, TikTok has grown more popular and more valuable. The logical buyers are the same firms rule-makers want to stop from getting bigger.

Capital Calls: Ritchie Bros founder regret

13 Mar 2023

Concise views on global finance: The industrial equipment auction company’s $7 bln deal for scrap-yard operator IAA has drawn one last opponent: the company’s own co-founder.

Capital Calls: World Bank, Bumble, Wood Group

23 Feb 2023

Concise views on global finance: The U.S. picks ex-Mastercard boss Ajay Banga to run the multilateral development bank; while the dating app’s shares are down, private equity owner Blackstone is still in the money; the UK oil services group has turned down three bids from Apollo.

Capital Calls: Schneider’s sustainable CEO

16 Feb 2023

Concise views on global finance: Jean-Pascal Tricoire’s departure as chief executive of the French industrial software group after nearly two decades at the helm defies the trend of short-lived or underperforming corporate bosses.

Meta exposes danger of trustbusting virtual risks

1 Feb 2023

Facebook’s owner won in court over U.S. efforts to block its acquisition of fitness-app developer Within. It trips up regulators trying to avoid missing another Instagram, with judges unpersuaded by future competition worries – a bad omen for the FTC’s case against Microsoft.

TikTok’s best U.S. charm offensive involves an IPO

19 Jan 2023

The social media firm owned by China’s ByteDance wants to appease concerns about its access to Americans’ data. If proposed fixes get past federal officials – no sure thing – it still must contend with state leaders. A stock market listing would add some helpful transparency.

Capital Calls: Activism, Bond spat, Airline M&A

18 Jan 2023

Concise views on global finance: Aggressive shareholder campaigns picked up in 2022, but activism is becoming an overcrowded strategy. Meanwhile, M&A machine Melrose takes on a fight that might not be worth winning, and German airline Lufthansa eyes a stake in Italy’s ITA.

China’s TikTok wins while U.S. dillydallies

6 Jan 2023

The social media app has stopped hiring people that would help appease U.S. regulators. Congress is slow – a reflection of Americans apathetic about sharing data. But impaling companies with taxes and tariffs happens regularly. As politicians delay, China tiptoes into homes.

E-commerce will go viral on social media in 2023

27 Dec 2022

TikTok and YouTube are among those fighting for a piece of the estimated $46 bln shopping market that’s growing twice as fast as ads. It’s a sensible strategic move, but recession would dash some plans. Many products also won’t suit the apps and competition is expanding quickly.

Capital Calls: Twitter’s news problem

6 Dec 2022

Concise views on global finance: If the U.S. Congress passes a law that allows news organizations to band together and negotiate with online platforms, Elon Musk may have one more challenge to add to his growing list.

Musk’s Apple fight could be his Twitter legacy

29 Nov 2022

The billionaire isn’t the first to criticize the smartphone maker for taking a cut from transactions on its app store. But owning Twitter gives Elon Musk a powerful megaphone. Taking a chunk out of Apple could even be the most durable outcome of Musk’s social media foray.

Giving up the keys is Musk’s best Twitter option

17 Nov 2022

The billionaire admits he’s overworked running Tesla, SpaceX and the social media firm. His own blue-sky math suggests he’d be far better off financially by focusing on electric cars. Walking away from Twitter puts his $44 bln purchase at stake. But it's a small price to pay.

Musk needs a third of America to pay for Twitter

15 Nov 2022

As the social media firm’s new boss says, it's losing $4 mln a day - before accounting for big drops in ad revenue. Even with cutting costs, sky-high interest means Twitter has to grow into its debt, which could require as many as over 110 million people to pay for the platform.

Adland veterans play tortoise to Big Tech’s hare

10 Nov 2022

Once deemed ex-growth, WPP and peers collectively grew revenue faster than Snap and Meta last quarter. New services like building apps and crunching client data helped. But if big adland clients like Nestlé keep spending while small businesses drop out, it may be no one-off.

Elon Musk’s $44 bln Twitter challenge begins

3 Nov 2022

The Tesla boss is now the proud owner of the social media platform. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss the billionaire’s plans to boost revenue, the implications for the electric carmaker’s shareholders, and what the saga tells us about mega-deals.

Tesla investors have reasons to fret over Twitter

31 Oct 2022

Boss Elon Musk’s new $44 bln social-media toy offers the potential benefit someday of being hitched to an “everything app.” That possibility looks slim, however, compared to the risks of divided attention, conflicts of interest and geopolitical blowback to the whole empire.

Capital Calls: Axing the tweeps

31 Oct 2022

Concise views on global finance: Elon Musk looks set to eliminate jobs en masse at Twitter, which augurs significant downsizing across Silicon Valley.