Musings about Multinational Corporations

We welcome Mr. Ken Jarrett, a Senior Advisor with Albright Stonebridge Group, as our guest on this episode. Ken previously served as President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, which followed a stint as Consul General in Shanghai, one of many in a distinguished foreign service career. Ken has about 30 years of experience living in China. Ken talks about the investment environment in...

The show begins by discussing the turmoil surrounding Meta’s takeover of Manus AI, a deal China has rejected. It then shifts to Apple’s efforts to keep the situation in China peachy. Subsequently, it roams to the topic of the Italian government putting the brakes on Sinochem , the largest Pirelli shareholder, before shifting to BYD’s challenges in Brazil. Next, it travels to the United Kingdom, wh...

This episode begins on the roller coaster known as artificial intelligence chip sales to China, a ride full of stops and starts and ups and downs. It then turns to the off and on again and off again placement of Chinese companies on the United States (US) Department of Defense’s Naughty List. It next returns to the soap opera involving the Netherland’s Nexperia , its China subsidiary, and its Chin...

This episode features Ken Wilcox, the author of The China Business Conundrum and former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (2001-2011), CEO of SVB's China joint venture (2011-2015), and then Vice Chairman of SVB's JV (2015-2019). In this program, Ken touches upon issues like the China Playbook, identifying decision makers, gift giving, the US government as a backstop (or not), "leverage," and the prospect...

This show starts by covering the ups and downs associated with the sale of advanced Nvidia and AMD AI chips to Chinese firms. It then turns to the battle between Nexperia Netherlands and China's Wingtech over control and transborder operations. The fourth part details Washington’s squashing of a Chinese semiconductor acquisition, Beijing’s potential mashing of Meta’s acquisition of Manus , China’s...

In this episode, we discuss the non-definitive definitive TikTok divestiture deal. We then examine challenges facing Chinese platforms such as Shein, Alibaba, and Baidu. Next, we track the continuing saga involving the sale of high-end chips and semiconductor making equipment by Nvidia and others to China. Following this, we delve into the regulatory travails confronting Google and Apple in countr...

In this segment of "Thirty Minutes of Tips from Top Talent," we interview Mr. Eric Sundheim, Principal & CEO, Mercovus Valuations, a Campbell, California (USA)-based valuation firm. During this episode, Eric enlightens us about the complexities and process of valuing intangible assets (e.g., stock, IP, crypto), the different ways that "politics" (global and domestic), which can manifest itself...

This episode begins with a piece on Apple’s continued courting of Beijing and its harvest and the moves by others to reduce their roots in the Middle Kingdom.  It then explores China’s anti-trust investigation of Qualcomm . The third content segment covers pressures on Nvidia from China and the United States, highlighting its defense of deeper dealings with China.  Afterwards, it treats the Nexper...

This episode begins by highlighting issues that Wells Fargo, Google, Apple , and Anthropic face with respect to China. It then focuses intently on Nvidia's challenges relating to a China antitrust investigation and China’s pursuit of semiconductor independence. It then shifts to the United States’s revocation of Validated End User Status for Samsung and SK Hynix and its possible implications for t...

This episode reviews various corporate exits from China and the tactics some companies like Apple are using to facilitate their China derisking; delves into the "unusual" and "unprecedented" chip tax deal AMD and Nvidia struck with the US government; examines President Donald Trump's hate and love fest with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan; and charts out Google's map data struggles with Korea as well as Kore...

In this episode, we discuss the love and hate swirling around AI semiconductor leader Nvidia .  Following this, we cover continuing challenges for companies in China such as Apple, Sam’s Club , and Tesla . The second half looks at the ongoing conundrums that Chinese companies such as TikTok are managing in the US, Europe, and Korea. We then zoom in on the travails of Google in Australia, Korea, an...

Season 2, episode 7 delves into the ups and downs of companies in China; discusses the assault against Chinese companies in the United Kingdom and elsewhere; provides the latest on one of our favs TikTok; gives you the latest on the travails of Shein; motors around with Harley in Japan; and closes with Korea's clashes with foreign companies and countries and their clashes with it.

Our June podcast ponders the sweet and sour environment surrounding companies dealing with China with a special focus on Nvidia and three hotel giants including Hilton; details the sour apples infecting the Apple tree; probes TikTok's travails; examines ongoing issues of censorship, content moderation, and media control; and dives deep on DeepSeek troubles in Korea and the challenges other tech co...

The April edition of the Musings about Multinational Corporations podcast examines the political and economic challenges facing companies like Apple and Nvidia as they are flagellated about, flirt with, and flee China; watches the continuing saga of TikTok whose battle for survival in the US of A never seems to end; blasts to the United Kingdom to cover the stealing of a Chinese steel plant and ot...

This episode probes the ever mobile Apple planes, with only one having a Cook aboard; discusses Walmart and Costco's discovery that low priced goods may be politically costly; and notes the release of jailed consultancy employees and China's efforts to court foreign executives while concurrently making implicitly demands they support its cause. It overviews European efforts to manage high-tech gia...

This episode continues our coverage of DeepSeek; looks at the stuck and ticking clocks facing TikTok; discusses the Apple plane's successful landing in Indonesia; offers intelligence on Apple intelligence in China; charts out the Google maps Gulf of something imbroglio; and offers a mix of material on topics like Telegram, Australian content moderation, and Rumble's rumble with Brazil.

In this episode, we discuss the TikTok's ticking clock and the effort, by some, to rescue it; track the Apple plane waiting to unload iPhone 16s in Indonesia; dive deep into the growing control and regulation of DeepSeek; examine EU and US measures affecting fast-retailer Shein and also Temu; and cover the ongoing battle between governments and tech companies on multiple fronts.

This episode, the first of 2025, delves into TikTok's challenges, above all in the US of A; Google's pressures chamber in East Asia countries like Japan and Korea and Russia; Australia's path breaking ban on social media usage for children; and Meta's challenges in Australia and the European Union (what's new?) and its fluctuating relationship with Russia.

This episode examines Volkswagen's exit from Xinjiang and the loosening of Xinjiang threads for Uniqlo; Chinese pressures against Nvidia; Apple's continued courting of China, Intel's offerings to the Middle Kingdom, and the scorning of those riding Meta's Llama; the long and short of the US TikTok ban and troubles for TikTok in Romania and beyond; Indonesia vs. the smartphone companies; and Japan...

Episode 7 scans the bombs raining on TikTok; surveys the challenges facing multinational corporations in China and those dumping on them for dealing with China; describes problems for tech companies in Korea and Vietnam; examines Indonesia's smarting policy towards smartphones; and reviews the European Unions rocky relations with tech companies.

In this episode, we update you on the LINE-Naver Saga; delve into Harley Davidson's bumpy ride in Japan and chills & spills regarding 7 & I; cover the challenges of Google and others in Korea and the challenges facing Korean chip companies; do a post about X and Brazil...and Australia...; and discuss the travails of Telegram.

This episode covers the recent travails of those doing business in or with China as well as the struggles of Chinese companies venturing abroad.  It also addresses the ever present theme of content moderation.  It supplies, too, juicy content about X and the EU, X and Venezuela, and, most of all, X and Brazil.  Lastly, it examines some recent news pertaining to TikTok.

Episode 4 of Season 1 looks at the softening of SOFTEE (aka Microsoft) around the world; the liberation, rerouting, and pummeling of Tesla; activist Australia and activists about Australian regulation; and the European Commission's latest burst of energy (at least until August) to regulate tech.

This episode covers censorship and corporate compliance (capitulation?) in China, censorship and content moderation elsewhere, and the regulation of tech big and small, primarily in Europe. We also touch upon recent LINE-Naver shenanigans and corporations caught in the crossfire of the US-China tit-for tat.

In this episode, we cover Apple's supply chain relocation; Tesla's charge up in China; Japan's search for Google (found it); Google gags (not the funny kind) in India; the Middle East muddle for google and others; and the complexities of content moderation for X in Australia and others elsewhere