Tech

Twitter’s habitat lacks natural predators

18 Apr 2022

Elon Musk’s $41 bln bid has put the social network in play, but closing a deal is harder. The Tesla boss may struggle to recruit partners, while meager earnings make it a stretch for private equity. Tech giants face antitrust concerns and toxic content will put off media suitors.

Chinese firms’ New York exit hits tricky new phase

13 Apr 2022

Quora-like Zhihu won’t raise a cent from its Hong Kong float, the first so-called homecomer to eschew the chance. It won’t be the last: Many of them are, like the $1.4 bln Q&A forum, cash rich. But insiders are selling. That can weigh on valuations, hurting regular investors.

Capital Calls: GoTo debuts in smart fashion

11 Apr 2022

Concise views on global finance: The Indonesian e-commerce, ride-hailing and financial technology firm, valued at $28 bln, jumped more than 20% in opening trade on its first day in Jakarta.

Shanghai Covid crisis puts China tech on eggshells

11 Apr 2022

City officials have called on food delivery apps from $123 bln Meituan and rivals to help feed 26 mln residents under strict lockdowns. It’s a chance for the companies to win political brownie points and new users. But the logistical challenges risk putting both out of reach.

Capital Calls: Credit Agricole’s Italian job

8 Apr 2022

Concise views on global finance: The French lender buys a 9% stake in Italy’s Banco BPM, making it harder for local rivals to launch a bid.

Capital Calls: Buffett’s HP bet, Gambling M&A

7 Apr 2022

Concise views on global finance: Berkshire Hathaway takes a hefty stake in the computer and printer maker; Betting group 888 negotiates a better price for buying UK bookie William Hill.

Musk turns SEC into super-Twitter

4 Apr 2022

The Tesla boss revealed that he is now the social media group's top shareholder. Some 80 mln people track his tweets, which have got him into trouble with the U.S. regulator. When it comes to opinions about Twitter itself, though, the SEC's disclosure platform may have an edge.

China’s NFTs face long digital purgatory

1 Apr 2022

Blockchain-based assets are catching on with companies like Xtep, which just released metaverse sneakers. Beijing bans cryptocurrencies, however, meaning apps only accept yuan and curb reselling. Absent sanctioned secondary markets, collecting will be merely a token gesture.

Apple Pay push is scarier for fintechs than banks

31 Mar 2022

The $2.9 trln iPhone maker is beefing up its in-house financial tools and muscling into consumer credit, Bloomberg reported. That’s bad news for technology partners and pay-later rivals. Lenders have less to fear: underwriting big loans isn’t lucrative enough to appeal to Apple.

Kuaishou’s comeback gets unwanted Beijing cameo

30 Mar 2022

The $43 bln video-streaming outfit reckons its China business can break even this year. That would please investors, who have seen the stock crater 70%. But reports of regulators readying new rules spell more shareholder pain. Kuaishou’s turnaround may need some rewrites.

Singapore’s rebalancing is delicate act

30 Mar 2022

The pandemic burnished its safe-haven role for rich Asians, but it is flourishing as a centre for Chinese wealth creation too. Even as changing flows of people, business, and money sharpen social challenges, the pivot is restoring the Lion City’s animal spirits.

Uber, Lyft grease driver’s pockets with surcharge

29 Mar 2022

The ride-hailing firms added a 55 cents per-trip surcharge to offset a 50% spike in fuel prices. That should cover the bump in gas and then some. Both firms are competing in a tight labor market, so it’s a start. But they may find they have to open their wallets, too.

Capital Calls: Gas stimulus

25 Mar 2022

Concise views on global finance: Direct payments to drivers are better than fuel tax cuts, but neither is ideal.

GIF inventor made few rich, but billions happy

24 Mar 2022

Steve Wilhite, who died aged 74, created a way for images to be easily shared and used in websites. The patents lapsed, and his employer CompuServe slipped into obscurity, yet GIFs remain ubiquitous – marking their inventor as one of tech’s great accidental philanthropists.

Toshiba task becomes more Sisyphean

24 Mar 2022

The Japanese conglomerate’s shareholders rejected management’s breakup plan and a hedge fund proposal to solicit buyout bids. It augurs fresh fighting over the board and the strategy. Outside agitators have reason for optimism but the long fight keeps eating away at returns.

Capital Calls: Renault out of Russia

24 Mar 2022

Concise views on global finance: Dire prospects for the sanctioned economy make the French carmaker’s decision to leave rational, but costly.

Private credit funds take page from start-up book

23 Mar 2022

Lending to deals like Thoma Bravo’s $11 bln purchase of Anaplan – which has no operating cash flow – is toxic for big banks. But private credit funds are signing up. They may be trying to disrupt lending markets while gaining clients. That sounds a lot like a risky tech model.

China’s technology emperors have no clothes

23 Mar 2022

Crackdowns are crushing valuations at the likes of Tencent and Alibaba. As smaller companies struggle to find profitability and established giants face lengthening slogs to both grow and improve margins, once-credulous investors are discovering how uncomfortably exposed they are.

EU’s faster, harder stick will whack U.S. big tech

22 Mar 2022

Existing antitrust law is too slow to prevent digital monopolies and too weak to create competition. New European rules, with a focus on prevention, will remedy that. The market is big enough and potential penalties so damaging that Apple and others need to take notice.

SoftBank’s Cruise exit hits self-driving cars hard

21 Mar 2022

Selling its Vision Fund stake in the autonomous unit to largest owner GM is a reminder of the Japanese group’s woes. And the carmaker had to inject $3.5 bln it could have used elsewhere. Any lingering hope that driverless cars are just around the corner is the biggest casualty.