Software

Dogecoin needn’t be any sillier than bitcoin

12 May 2021

The canine cryptocurrency lacks bitcoin’s supply limit, ethereum’s usefulness, and the heft of both. But it’s hyped by Elon Musk and others, which could help what started as a joke compete with other digital coinages. Crypto is young enough that there’s room for an underdog.

Germany becomes food delivery battleground, again

12 May 2021

Delivery Hero is returning to the market it exited in 2018, while Uber is also preparing to take a bite. The pandemic has given Germans a taste for home-delivered meals, boosting market leader Just Eat Takeaway. With big players piling back in, shareholders may go hungry.

Capital Calls: Amazon EU tax win, Scooter SPAC

21 Jan 2022

Concise views on global finance: Jeff Bezos’s e-commerce giant wins a victory over the European Union, but the battle has already moved on; Bird’s $2.3 billion price tag is relatively high but less pie-in-the-sky than some recent deals.

Apple’s App battle has only slightly epic ending

5 May 2021

A ruling against the $2 trillion tech behemoth in the case brought by video game company Epic could optically be bad for Apple and have global implications. But even if App Store sales fall in half, it would shave just 3% from Apple’s market value. Being a giant has privileges.

Capital Calls: Pfizer, ConocoPhillips

4 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: About $6 bln of additional earnings from Covid vaccines at the U.S. drug giant should mean more capital returned to investors; the independent oil group is offloading stock in Canada-based Cenovus it collected as part of a deal four years ago.

Capital Calls: Apple, UK SPACs

30 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance: Apple’s European antitrust problem may start a global trend; UK regulators scramble to join SPAC party.

Twitter can learn to love the flock it has

30 Apr 2021

Jack Dorsey’s social network warned that user growth will slow and costs will rise. The shares fell some 10%. Twitter lacks Facebook’s diversified product range, and Snap’s popularity. What the $52 bln firm does have is an opportunity to better monetize a pretty loyal audience.

Capital Calls: Jerome Powell, Shopify

28 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance: The clock is ticking on the Fed boss’s taper timeline; the e-commerce firm grew even as it warns of a post-pandemic lull.

Microsoft edge is not being one of its big rivals

27 Apr 2021

Regulatory scrutiny is holding back consumer-focused competitors Apple, Amazon and Alphabet. Microsoft is freer to do deals and promote software like Teams. Quarterly results show the benefits. Even so, a $2 trillion market cap makes it hard to keep out of the spotlight.

Darktrace’s cut-price IPO still looks risky

26 Apr 2021

The cyber firm’s $2.6 bln float values it at around 10 times 2020 revenue, well below listed CrowdStrike and Zscaler. But the loss-making business is vulnerable to rivals. Close links with investor Mike Lynch, who’s facing U.S. fraud charges, could also leave investors exposed.

EQT spins Micro Focus misfortune into gold

26 Apr 2021

The Swedish buyout firm may float software group SUSE for up to $10 bln, having paid its struggling UK owner $2.5 bln in 2018. It’s a classic corporate carveout on steroids. One lesson is that CEOs should put more effort into retaining possible upside when selling their castoffs.

Capital Calls: The $2 trln toybox

23 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance: Mattel’s 47% sales growth tees up a spree of discretionary spending, as American consumers raid pandemic savings.

Panasonic’s $7 bln deal will leave investors blue

23 Apr 2021

The Japanese group is paying a pricey 33 times forecast EBITDA for Blue Yonder, its biggest acquisition in a decade. The target's expertise in supply-chain software and steady stream of subscription sales are appealing, but the implied return on investment is a huge downer.

Capital Calls: Bank of America, WeWork, Kering

20 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance: The bank’s shareholders voted against a deeper dive into its impact on racial inequality; the office landlord is taking bitcoin as payment, for now; the Gucci owner needs to run faster to catch arch-rival LVMH.

UiPath’s $28 bln IPO may be as hot as Snowflake

19 Apr 2021

The company's revenue from software robots that replace humans doing boring back-office tasks is growing 80% annually. A valuation of over 40 times last year's sales looks feverish in objective terms, but cheap relative to in-demand technology peers like data outfit Snowflake.

Epic’s $29 bln price tag looks beyond “Fortnite”

14 Apr 2021

Its latest fundraising values the maker of the cult shoot-’em-up game at two-thirds more than last August. That’s a bigger bump than listed peers got from the pandemic. Investors are counting on boss Tim Sweeney’s bets on digital marketplaces and game-making software to pay off.

Capital Calls: Christine Lagarde, Bernie Madoff

14 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance: The European Central Bank president’s quest for inflation will take a while to achieve its goal; investor gullibility will live on after the death of the Ponzi schemer in a U.S. federal prison.

SAP’s nice surprise makes case for value discount

14 Apr 2021

The $166 bln German IT group is wooing customers to its cloud software, boosting revenue. Yet investors aren’t giving CEO Christian Klein much credit. It’s hard to predict when clients will roll off SAP’s old-school products. A track record of shifting targets doesn’t help.

Grab’s $40 bln debut comes with twin airbags

13 Apr 2021

The Southeast Asian taxi-to-fintech firm is going public at a sales multiple twice Uber’s. U.S. SPAC sponsor Altimeter is contributing to a $4 bln PIPE and signing a long lockup. It’s a smart way to underwrite an amped-up valuation and sets a template to speed others to market.

Capital Calls: LVMH surges back to full health

13 Apr 2021

Concise views on global finance: The 300 billion euro luxury conglomerate’s first-quarter sales surpass pre-Covid-19 levels.