Software

Tencent encapsulates new challenge for China tech

12 Aug 2020

The $635 bln giant derives most of its value from video games, ads and payments units that don’t rely much on foreign partners. But any restrictions on working with U.S. firms might have an outsize effect on its growth. Boss Pony Ma will have to sweat his company harder.

Corona Capital: PizzaExpress, Aerospace pain

4 Aug 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The UK restaurant chain’s restructuring is not that tasty a meal for creditors; Airplane-parts maker Spirit’s reliance on Boeing’s 737 MAX has it heading into worse turbulence.

Corona Capital: Ford narrows the gap

30 Jul 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The Detroit automaker put in a better second-quarter performance than expected. That’s good news for under-pressure CEO Jim Hackett – and allows Ford to close some of the distance to rival GM.

SAP may bank a lucky Qualtrics IPO win

27 Jul 2020

The German IT giant will float its U.S. survey business, for which it paid $8 billion in 2018. It’s an admission that all sides would be better off if the unit had more autonomy. A saving grace is the rise in tech valuations: Qualtrics may be worth more now than two years ago.

Microsoft’s cloud mostly floats above Covid-19

22 Jul 2020

The $1.6 trln software giant’s latest quarter showed the pandemic's effects, good and bad. A sharp fall in advertising showed the company can’t entirely escape the real economy. But cloud services, on-demand software, and video gaming grew rapidly, thanks to more work from home.

Mukesh Ambani flaunts Jio’s global tech ambitions

15 Jul 2020

Reliance Industries’ boss unveiled a home-grown 5G solution with export potential at a meeting held on the Indian company’s answer to Zoom. His push is bad news for Huawei. And the latest investment in Jio, $4.5 bln from Google, points to a formidable competitor for all rivals.

India prize for U.S. tech grows with Chinese wall

14 Jul 2020

Google will invest $10 bln in India over five years or so. A chunk might follow Facebook into Mukesh Ambani’s Jio. The showy confidence in an iffy economy can help to ease regulatory headwinds. When new rules have crippled Chinese-capital dependent rivals, it is extra helpful.

SAP will struggle to walk, chew gum at same time

9 Jul 2020

The $190 bln software group is weathering the Covid storm: CEO Christian Klein kept sales rising while also slashing costs. Yet keeping up with fast-growing U.S. rivals like Salesforce requires investment. That implies a margin hit, and disappointment for cash-hungry investors.

Palantir mystery extends to public-market value

7 Jul 2020

The data-analytics firm, co-founded by Peter Thiel in 2003, has ramped up revenue slowly – it's set to reach $1 bln this year. A $20 bln valuation, the private mark in 2015, looks optimistic. Yet growth is on the up. The company's worth depends on how durable that is.

Corona Capital: Texas hold it

7 Jul 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The iconic State Fair of Texas has been canceled as coronavirus cases in the region soar. The decision adds some $500 mln to the Lone Star State’s economic and human toll from the pandemic.

Wirecard UK saga exposes payments regulation holes

1 Jul 2020

Clients of the collapsed group’s British arm had their accounts frozen while the watchdog tried to pin down its cash balances. That hurt blameless retail customers. Supervisors urgently need a way to monitor payments firms more closely before they get into trouble.

Wirecard collapse is real-life fintech stress test

25 Jun 2020

The German group is filing for insolvency a week after saying $2 bln of cash was missing. Its collapse will test whether fast-growing and lightly regulated payments firms can fail without damaging customers or other lenders. The fallout has consequences for the entire sector.

VMware spin would repair Dell’s complexity damage

24 Jun 2020

The $36 bln IT group may off-load its $50 bln majority stake in separately listed VMware. Logic suggests first extracting cash to reduce debt and then spinning VMware off to Dell’s shareholders. That would clean up balance sheets and governance, probably boosting both valuations.

Yandex picks good time to untangle from Sberbank

24 Jun 2020

The Russian search engine will pay $600 mln for the bank’s stake in their e-commerce tie-up and exit their payments unit. With shares up, funding this with $800 mln from investors like Roman Abramovich makes sense. Sadly, immunity from Kremlin meddling isn’t part of the deal.

Chinese gay dating IPO makes rainbow connection

23 Jun 2020

BlueCity, valued at $300 mln in 2014, wants to go public in New York. Its Grindr-meets-Facebook app caters to low-key but thriving LGBTQ communities. Fast growth has enabled founder Ma Baoli to expand in Asia. Sustained success depends on shifting political and social attitudes.

Wirecard’s bankers might as well keep it alive

22 Jun 2020

ABN Amro, Commerzbank and others could tip the payments group into insolvency by calling in 2 bln euros of loans. Given Wirecard’s lack of cash and tangible assets, they might not get their money back. Better to see if new CEO James Freis can salvage something from the wreckage.

Wirecard could prove a nail in BaFin’s coffin

22 Jun 2020

Despite repeated allegations of fraud at the payments group, the German watchdog until recently focused on short-sellers and journalists. The scandal poses big questions about its oversight of Wirecard’s bank unit - and about financial regulation in Europe’s largest economy.

Wirecard scandal turns into an existential crisis

18 Jun 2020

Markus Braun’s payments group lost over half of its market value after EY found indications that 1.9 bln euros of cash balances might be “spurious”. Loan covenants may be triggered, threatening its access to finance. Regulators, lenders and auditors have lots of explaining to do.

Corona Capital: Carnival, Cheap funds, Salmon

18 Jun 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: What lies on the horizon for the cruise operator; locking in cheap financing; and a fishy tale of coronavirus-related swings in demand.

Europe’s latest Apple bite is close to the core

16 Jun 2020

The EU’s antitrust tzar Margrethe Vestager worries that the $1.5 trln group’s app store and payments product hurt competition. With smartphones at saturation point, such add-on services underpin Apple’s rosy valuation. Shareholders should be more worried than in past probes.