Society

Capital Calls: Netflix, GameStop

9 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The video-streaming service sprays webs of money to secure movies; GameStop’s “Chewy of Gaming” strategy.

Capital Calls: Cellebrite good times

8 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The Israeli cracker of mobile-phone encryption is going public via a SPAC at a $2.4 billion valuation.

Covid-testing IPO is bet on long hypochondria

7 Apr 2021

German diagnostic tester Synlab is planning to float with a mooted $7 bln valuation. A receding pandemic may mean its 38% revenue growth in 2020 isn’t repeated. But the price reflects that, and consumers may well continue to obsess about other aspects of their health.

Rosier IMF forecasts are riddled with inequalities

6 Apr 2021

The international lender upgraded its global growth forecasts for this year and next. But there is a gulf between haves and have-nots, across countries and within them. Some of the sound advice it is doling out to mitigate the problem may be hard for governments to implement.

Review: Rwanda, Africa’s good-news story gone bad

1 Apr 2021

Under Paul Kagame, the Land of a Thousand Hills has gone from genocidal hellhole to wannabe African Singapore. In feting the ex-guerrilla president, donors and investors ignored autocracy and murder. Michela Wrong’s “Do Not Disturb” may force Davos to rethink its guest list.

Cox: Europe really needs to get its shot together

1 Apr 2021

From Rome to Paris and beyond governments are imposing further travel and other restrictions, many for reasons that look more petty, political and punitive than sanitary. That’s energy better spent on the best way to exit the health and economic crisis: vaccinating people.

Draghi’s corporate inbox will keep flashing red

31 Mar 2021

Rome’s to-do list, left over from the last government, includes selling dud bank MPS, resurrecting carrier Alitalia, expanding broadband and ending a motorway row. With vaccinations and recovery his legacy, these secondary tasks will slip to the bottom of Mario Draghi’s pile.

Capital Calls: BlackRock’s Archegos angle, SPACs

30 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The fallout from the collapse of Bill Hwang’s family office gives regulators reasons to focus on funds, not fund managers; and bosses of blank-check companies don’t take investor questions.

Capital Calls: WFH deals, Suez Canal, NorNickel

29 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Fintech firm Broadridge pays a full price for trading platform; with the waterway clear, all sides will be taking up positions for a legal battle royal; the Russian nickel producer cashes in on high copper prices.

Review: “A World Without Email” is a long way off

26 Mar 2021

Tending to electronic communication takes a third of our working day, making us miserable and less productive, Cal Newport argues. Virtual to-do lists are useful hacks to regain control. Yet even if email is defeated, interruption by pervasive digital messages seems here to stay.

Boulder killings could break U.S. Senate’s back

23 Mar 2021

The second U.S. mass shooting in a week begs for laws favoring tougher gun checks. Like a $3 trln infrastructure plan, that measure is stalled because of arcane Senate filibuster rules. There are ways to untie the knot, but each step forward could lead to an even bigger breakup.

Capital Calls: Leon Black, Happiness index

22 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Apollo’s founder still has his imprint on the Museum of Modern Art and Dartmouth College; people are proving surprisingly resilient in the pandemic, a recent poll suggests.

Office landlords can live with homeworking shock

19 Mar 2021

Firms like HSBC hope working from home will let them cut costs. Goldman Sachs thinks it is a fad. Yet even if employees spend more time at home, their needs and social distancing rules will limit how much space can be freed up. The slump in office property stocks looks overdone.

Cox: Global vax race is lesson in risk appetites

18 Mar 2021

The widening gap between the jabbed and the jab-nots, with the U.S., UK and Israel light years ahead of Europe and Canada, isn’t just about healthcare systems. It’s about culture, too. Some societies are just better at embracing innovation and putting faith in technology.

The Exchange: Will home working outlive Covid-19?

16 Mar 2021

The pandemic has relocated many office workers to their studies and dining tables. Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom tells Dasha Afanasieva that many companies will continue working from home two days a week. But allowing too much flexibility could bring diversity risks.

Capital Calls: McKinsey, Celebrity SPACs

10 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: McKinsey’s new boss isn’t new enough; the SEC tells investors to be careful of celebrities bearing SPACs.

Capital Calls: TV’s royal boost, Shared offices

9 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan is a boon for ViacomCBS’s streaming ambitions; IWG’s revamp depends on a workplace revolution.

Capital Calls: American Airlines, Crypto PayPal

8 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The U.S. carrier is issuing new debt and hocking some airline miles to pay back the U.S. Treasury loan that carried restrictions on pay and dividends; PayPal investors give a shrug over another dive into bitcoin-land.

White supremacy dies hard on the grocery shelf

5 Mar 2021

New Orleans craft beer Dixie will soon shed its name for a less racially divisive marque. It’s a big risk for a small company. But if a Southern staple can jettison a racially insensitive brand, what’s taking $60 bln giant Colgate, maker of “Black person toothpaste,” so long?

Review: The human response to a man-made disaster

5 Mar 2021

Mankind’s impact on the planet is irreversible, Elizabeth Kolbert writes in “Under a White Sky”. She focuses on people trying to limit the damage, whether by breeding hardy coral or reflecting the sun. Wilfully shaping nature raises new dilemmas. But we may have no choice.