Tech

Embracer cash call undermines investors’ M&A play

6 Jul 2023

The Swedish gaming group raised $180 mln from various investors at a 9% discount to its closing price. Last summer, it raised $1.1 bln from Saudi Arabia at a 15% premium. The contrast suggests a lower chance of a takeover, meaning CEO Lars Wingefors faces a single-player slog.

AI’s deflationary winds will blow away profits

27 Jun 2023

Artificial intelligence could add $8 trln a year to world GDP, McKinsey estimates, defying the gloom about robots replacing humans. Though companies should benefit from lower costs, consumers could use the technology to find better deals. It all adds up to lower prices.

Prosus’ juggle leaves bigger worries up in the air

27 Jun 2023

The $147 bln Dutch investor is ending its complex shareholder structure with South African parent Naspers. It’s simpler for investors, and enables more buybacks. But the group will still have a stake in Tencent it can’t easily sell and lopsided governance, meriting a discount.

Big Tech backlash swells the AI gold rush

26 Jun 2023

Cloud provider Databricks is buying a machine learning startup for $1.3 bln, almost six times its valuation earlier this year. Models backed by Microsoft and Google dominate artificial intelligence. But a bet that companies want to control their data is pumping up smaller rivals.

Masayoshi Son’s new AI push merits a pinch of salt

22 Jun 2023

The SoftBank founder said he would place further bets on artificial intelligence after taking a pause. Some of his investments may pay off. But Arm is his only real AI win from a $112 bln portfolio, his credibility has taken a knock, and his war chest is smaller than it looks.

AI’s regulation naysayers protest too much

21 Jun 2023

Lawmakers in the European Union and elsewhere are scrambling to draft artificial intelligence rules. Industry leaders like OpenAI boss Sam Altman warn the approach is too onerous. Yet the risks of pandering to special pleading exceed the dangers of stifling a nascent industry.

Crypto is dead: long live crypto!

16 Jun 2023

Already reeling from fraud and falling prices, cryptocurrencies suffered a fatal blow with US charges against two leading exchanges. Yet Felix Martin argues that the demise of speculative digital tokens may help revive their original purpose as private global currencies.

SoftBank’s Arm IPO set for double stroke of luck

13 Jun 2023

The chip designer may score Intel as an anchor investor in its planned US float. Meanwhile, customers like $975 bln Nvidia have soared amid an artificial-intelligence frenzy. It makes the company’s puffy valuation hopes slightly less implausible – but not necessarily sustainable.

Capital Calls: Zee, Embracer

13 Jun 2023

Concise views on global finance: India’s securities regulator banned the media group’s CEO from holding any key managerial positions, putting its merger with Sony’s local unit under a cloud; the $3 bln video-game group’s new strategy hits the right buttons.

Byju’s fight with lenders is a lose-lose scenario

13 Jun 2023

Creditors want the Prosus-backed education tech company – once India’s most valuable startup – to repay its punchy $1.2 bln loan early. It’s a technical default at most but digging very deep to clear the debt might help founder Byju Raveendran improve his company’s mixed marks.

Gaming transatlantic gap invites M&A shoot-’em-up

9 Jun 2023

Shares in European gaming groups like Ubisoft are off by a fifth over the past year, underperforming stateside peers. Self-inflicted slip-ups are partly to blame, but players’ love for US-owned blockbusters means the valuation divide will endure. Dealmaking is a likely endgame.

AI speed benefits now apply to EU boycott U-turns

26 May 2023

On Wednesday Sam Altman threatened to quit Europe if it “over-regulates” his booming startup OpenAI. He’s now rapidly rowed back. As with their disruptive new technology, AI mavens may have a shrewder sense than older US peers of when to stop poking the Brussels bear.

Europe’s scramble to tame artificial intelligence

23 May 2023

Brussels is a step closer to unveiling regulation for the controversial technology. Dragoș Tudorache, a legislator in the European Parliament, helped write the law. In this Exchange podcast, he argues that the rules focus on the biggest risks while leaving room for innovation.

Transatlantic tech-tax truce is on a knife edge

23 May 2023

EU-US spats over levies on the likes of Amazon have taken a breather while a global pact advances. But sabres are rattling, led by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. Washington may well be patient with the pace of promised rollbacks, but any new levies would break the truce.

Capital Calls: US gifts Big Tech

19 May 2023

Concise views on global finance: The US’s high court left internet firms’ liability protections untouched in two Thursday rulings. For Twitter, Meta and Google, business as usual is the ideal outcome.

AI boom could expose investors’ natural stupidity

19 May 2023

Corporate leaders and money managers are jumping on the artificial intelligence bandwagon. The study of behavioural economics suggests people are easily carried away by hype. Some of the limits of human reason may also apply to supposedly smart machines, writes Felix Martin.

Asia tech’s next challenge is resetting the bar

19 May 2023

Singapore’s Grab raised its guidance, compatriot Sea navigated choppy waters, and China’s Tencent beat estimates. Investors still dumped their stock. Some caution is justified but high expectations throw up a new set of problems for a battered industry on the mend.

Capital Calls: BT, Mediobanca

18 May 2023

Concise views on global finance: The 14 bln pound UK telco’s vague guidance is a concern for its two big shareholders seeking to recoup losses; the 8.5 bln euro Italian bank buys its biggest boutique yet.

Capital Calls: Sea

17 May 2023

Concise views on global finance: Founder Forrest Li is trying to shore up faith in the company’s newfound profitable status but a miss on earnings and 18% drop in its shares is a reality check.

Why the jobs market could brush off AI threat

16 May 2023

Hiring seems to be waning in the US and Europe. Yet in this Exchange podcast, recruitment boss Sander van ’t Noordende strikes a hopeful note. The Randstad CEO explains why artificial intelligence and a possible economic slump are doing nothing to dampen demand for talent.