Society

UK’s costly royal wedding is worth every penny

18 May 2018

The marriage of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle may cost taxpayers as much as 30 mln pounds. If the transatlantic union prompts a small increase in American tourism, the expense can be recouped. In an era of isolationism and political volatility, it’s an efficient soft power boost.

Silicon Valley’s XX factor

17 May 2018

Only one out of three employees at Google, Facebook and Apple is a woman. How long before these tech companies hit gender parity in the workforce?

Closing tech’s gender gap will take decades

17 May 2018

One in three employees at Google, Facebook and Apple is a woman. Even if just over half of new hires were female, it would take up to 15 years to achieve a balanced workforce, a Breakingviews calculator shows. If Silicon Valley is serious about parity, a bolder target is needed.

Wall Street Schneiderfreude would be misplaced

8 May 2018

New York’s attorney general levied hefty fines against JPMorgan, Barclays, RBS and others. Now he has resigned amid allegations of abuse. It’s no reason for banks to gloat. Any successor will have just as much incentive, and perhaps more credibility, to pursue financial misdeeds.

Cox: Guns, nuns and funds get ready to rumble

8 May 2018

A governance skirmish is shaping up in the Arizona desert. The Catholic Church and big investors like BlackRock will converge on Sturm, Ruger’s annual meeting on Wednesday. A shareholder proposal from the sisters deserves consideration for business, not just moral, reasons.

Italian election sequel could favour right wing

8 May 2018

Failure to form a coalition government after the inconclusive March vote raises the chances of a snap poll, possibly as soon as July. That would benefit the rightist League and its allies, which won recent local elections. But it prolongs the country’s political uncertainty.

Review: Saving central bankers from the mob

4 May 2018

How much influence should technocrats wield in a democracy? That’s the question former Bank of England Deputy Governor Paul Tucker attempts to answer in “Unelected Power”. His reply is thoughtful and robust but might end up drowned out by fractious politics or another downturn.

Peppa Pig can survive Chinese censor’s cleaver

3 May 2018

Video-sharing app Douyin chopped the cartoon swine after it appeared in “subversive” videos posted by users. The ban does not directly hurt owner Entertainment One’s revenue. Still, it’s a reminder that even the most innocent media characters can fall out of official favour.

Capitalism shunts all else aside in Beverly Hills

2 May 2018

Markets are fine, volatility is modest and trade war isn’t a big deal, say delegates at junk-bond king Michael Milken’s annual L.A. summit. In other words, the freewheeling spirit Milken once embodied is back in vogue. Thank President Trump – and a dose of complacency.

Hadas: Shrinking to greatness is next CEO trick

2 May 2018

Corporate giants like GE, Ford and Deutsche Bank are cutting back on what were once key businesses. Good luck to them. Major strategic retreats usually come too late or are poorly executed. But as global sectors become more competitive, managed decline is a good skill to learn.

Cox: Gun taint prods a corporate restructuring

1 May 2018

Vista Outdoor is jettisoning products like Bell helmets and paddle boards from its core sports-shooting business after REI and other retailers blacklisted brands associated with the AR-15 rifle-maker. After Parkland, gunsmiths are rightly being confined to finance’s fringes.

Facebook dating reality may fall short of fears

1 May 2018

News of a matchmaking add-on to the social network tanked the shares of Match and owner IAC on Tuesday. People are spending less time on Facebook and this could persuade some to linger. But they’d have to believe Mark Zuckerberg’s promiscuous data-sharing days are behind him.

Computers come for debt capital markets jobs

1 May 2018

Citi, JPMorgan and Bank of America will later this year roll out an online platform that will streamline the way in which companies issue bonds and help investors to compare credits. A successful launch could over time help these banks to shrink their sales and syndicate teams.

Kim Jong Un’s hollow promises better than nothing

27 Apr 2018

The North Korean leader met South Korea’s president, vowing to work towards a formal peace treaty and a nuclear-free peninsula. The latter seems unlikely. But even a diplomatic thaw is good for South Korean business – and will reduce the tail risk of a catastrophic conflict.

Review: How to deprogram economic xenophobia

20 Apr 2018

In "Us vs. Them", political scientist Ian Bremmer joins the crowd bewailing the retreat of globalisation. He identifies roots and risks, but finds no easy fixes. Ideas like universal basic income and taxing robots are band-aids. What's needed is a better global school system.

Starbucks’ anti-racism coffee break sets example

17 Apr 2018

After the arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia shop the $84 bln chain will shut some 8,000 U.S. outlets for an afternoon of racial-bias education. The swift response, perhaps costing $20 mln in lost latte sales, backs up Starbucks’ social goals and offers a lesson to others.

L&G’s gender revolt has revealingly low bar

17 Apr 2018

The 983 bln pound asset manager will vote against chairs at UK companies if boards have too few women. It’s a laudable move. But the 25 pct threshold looks low, and traps groups as big as Barclays or London Stock Exchange. Diversity in British boardrooms has a long way to go.

Review: America’s founding was all about the money

13 Apr 2018

“New World, Inc.” explores the role of British merchant adventurers in laying the groundwork for the colonial settlements in Virginia and Plymouth. The book is a prequel of sorts to the Pilgrim creation myth that suggests Mammon, not religious freedom, drove America's creation.

Hadas: Even Trump can’t make graft great again

11 Apr 2018

Resistance to corruption is evident in cases against ex-leaders of South Korea, Brazil and South Africa. Old royal privileges make no sense in modern economies. U.S. officials and the corporate elite have strayed, but rising middle classes will keep straightening out the crooked.

Rail strikes will test French appetite for Europe

9 Apr 2018

President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to overhaul the state-run train company have sparked mass walkouts. He’s not the only one with much to lose. If voters turn against rail reforms, they may also blame EU laws that are forcing the pace of change and grow more critical of Brussels.