Social Media

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.

Twitter deal sadly upholds primacy of shareholders

28 Oct 2022

Elon Musk bought the social media firm for $44 bln after failing to wriggle off the hook. Stakeholders including the company, its employees, its new owner, its creditors and the world as a whole are probably worse off. But, hey, at least shareholders made out like bandits.

Zuckerberg motivates supervoting stock resistance

27 Oct 2022

The tech tycoon’s virtual reality push has cost investors in Meta Platforms more than $600 bln this year after a 20%-plus drop on Thursday. Unhappy shareholders who ceded control can only sell. It’s a painful reminder to force other startups to sunset dual-class share structures.

Adidas’s Kanye West bet is still in credit

27 Oct 2022

The 18 bln euro sportswear maker severed ties with the musician over offensive comments. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss how the financial benefits to Adidas nevertheless outweighed the costs. That may spur other brands to pursue outspoken stars.

Meta’s spending splurge starts to look troubling

26 Oct 2022

Facebook’s $370 bln parent company plans to invest almost 10% of its value on capex this year, partly to fund its metaverse strategy. In 2021, operating cash flow left room to do so. Third-quarter earnings suggest a slouch toward 2020 figures, which raises fresh concerns.

Big Tech risks a reversion to Web Finance 1.0

24 Oct 2022

Meta, Alphabet and Twitter were noobs to the ad game during the last recession. Back in 2009, digital claimed just a 16% share. Now, the online giants are far more heavily exposed to deep marketing budget cuts. With costs also out of whack, it could start to feel more like 2000.