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Capital Calls: EasyJet, Nexi

27 Sep 2022

Concise views on global finance: The budget airline scraps its offset plan and focuses efforts on cleaner technology; the 12 bln euro payment company’s valuation gap with peer Worldline looks increasingly hard to justify.

Capital Calls: Clock ticks for reining in TikTok

26 Sep 2022

Concise views on global finance: The Chinese-owned social media network’s prodigious growth will make the U.S. government’s attempts to allay security concerns trickier still.

Capital Calls: Sea’s distress call

21 Sep 2022

Concise views on global finance: The boss of Singapore’s $26 bln e-commerce to video-games outfit has laid out plans to achieve financial self-sufficiency, sending a wake-up call to other cash-burning peers in the region.

Capital Calls: SPAC unwind, U.S. trustbusters

20 Sep 2022

Concise views on global finance: Chamath Palihapitiya, who personified the excess of the blank check market, is returning cash in two of his vehicles. Investors in companies that went public via SPACs are the main losers. And American antitrust enforcers suffer a second court loss in a month.

Samsung climate inertia is by-product of Seoul’s

20 Sep 2022

The $274 bln conglomerate's 2050 net-zero goal underwhelms next to those set by Apple, Intel and others. Blame South Korea’s power-market monopoly and regressive renewable policies. With investors and customers demanding action, Samsung's corporate heft will be put to the test.

Capital Calls: Ralph Lauren

19 Sep 2022

Concise views on global finance: The $6 bln retailer known for its iconic Polo shirts is cheaply valued compared to European counterparts.

Capital Calls: Paytm protest vote

22 Aug 2022

Concise views on global finance: A majority of the Indian fintech posterchild’s public institutional investors voted against the pay of founder and boss Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

Jack Ma’s exit would smooth Ant’s IPO march

29 Jul 2022

The Alibaba founder may cede control of the fintech giant. This could mark a big advance in Ant's efforts to clean up governance and placate the officials who derailed its $37 bln float in 2020. A simpler ownership structure puts the company one step closer to a revived listing.

Chip sector’s bright spot brings back bad memory

28 Jul 2022

Semiconductor demand is faltering as companies and officials spend billions adding supply. The $166 bln memory-chip market is consolidated at present, so leaders like Samsung can quickly cut output to protect profit. Chinese entrants and reshoring efforts might upend that soon.

Hard tech fad leaves Chinese apps out in the cold

26 Jul 2022

Tencent-backed Soulgate is among the country's startups rushing to list in Hong Kong as investors pile into chips and robotics. Ballooning losses at the $2 bln social network will be a tough sell. For larger peers like TikTok-owner ByteDance, the clock to go public is ticking.

Capital Calls: LVMH succession, Swedish Match

22 Jul 2022

Concise views on global finance: Bernard Arnault insures the luxury group against future family feuds; the oral tobacco company’s results will embolden deal resisters.

Capital Calls: Royal Mail, Europe’s chip champion

20 Jul 2022

Concise views on global finance: Britain’s postal provider is eyeing a potentially messy separation, but a nationalisation would make more sense; shares of ASML, which provides cutting-edge machines for chipmaking, look more appealing despite inflation and geopolitical worries.

Edtech giant faces hard slog on its M&A field trip

19 Jul 2022

Byju’s, India’s most valuable startup, is eyeing U.S. higher-learning specialist 2U in the latest period of both firms’ deal frenzy. It’s betting education technology can be outsourced to its home country. If wrong, Byju’s will be an M&A version of a Dr. Frankenstein experiment.

Alibaba suffers under someone else’s cloud

15 Jul 2022

Investors erased $14 bln of the company’s value on news that authorities summoned executives after a breach of a police database it hosts. The hack of 1 bln Chinese citizens’ details seems mostly an embarrassing government cybersecurity flop. But Alibaba is an easy proxy target.

Japan strains to populate its sparse unicorn farm

4 Jul 2022

As economic troubles mount, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wants the country’s $1.5 trln pension fund to play venture capitalist to help create more startups like SmartNews and Spiber. It will take far more than government money, however, to incubate entrepreneurial spirits.

Baidu video sale hints at a China tech plot twist

16 Jun 2022

The search-engine operator may divest its Netflix-like streaming arm in a $7 bln deal. Ordinarily rivals like Tencent would welcome the opportunity, but the recent anti-trust crackdown will deter them. That clears the way for otherwise unlikely bidders, including state companies.

Samsung opens its wallet to a wary chip market

16 Jun 2022

Boss Jay Y. Lee's European trip has sparked hope that the South Korean conglomerate will finally use its $84 bln cash pile for M&A. Beat-up valuations at mooted targets like NXP make consolidation attractive. Appeasing concerned governments, though, will be a tough sell.

New York hybrid working woe, Toshiba’s options

9 Jun 2022

The work from home revolution looks here to stay with nearly 80% of surveyed employers accepting it as the new norm. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss how this will be painful for office landlords. Plus, the $22 bln Japanese company’s mysterious future.

Boots deal will add to Reliance’s retail black box

9 Jun 2022

The Indian conglomerate submitted a binding bid for Walgreens’ UK pharmacy chain in a consortium with Apollo. It’s a big pivot for Mukesh Ambani. Opacity around his retail expansion and a determination to win at all costs are a worry. Bulking up will make things worse.