Viewsroom

The multilateral lender’s boss, Kristalina Georgieva, rode out data-rigging charges. Now she has got a lot to prove. Swaha Pattanaik ticks through how she can remake her legacy and reform the institution. Aimee Donnellan walks through the aisles of French supermarket finance. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rivian drops its IPO prospectus, Volvo readies its public market return, Hertz brings on a car guy and GM gets a thumbs up from Engine No. 1. Antony Currie puts it all together. And what does Facebook’s outage mean for shareholders? Gina Chon and Richard Beales weigh in. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trucker shortages, partly thanks to Brexit, have been blamed for all manner of UK economic hardships, from toilet paper scarcities to long queues at petrol stations. Ed Cropley and Peter Thal Larsen explain. And our columnists in Hong Kong discuss casinos and investment banking.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...

Global investors have woken up to the potential financial risks that the heavily indebted Chinese property developer poses. Breakingviews Asia columnists explain, though, that even in a worst-case scenario its effects beyond the country’s borders should be limited. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beijing’s crackdown on Jack Ma’s fintech giant continues, but there may be some silver linings to the latest wrinkle, Robyn Mak tells Pete Sweeney. Meantime Dasha Afanasieva explains what a cigar spinoff at Swedish Match and carveouts at Royal DSM have in common. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Central American country adopts the cryptocurrency as a coin of the realm, Richard Beales and Gina Chon discuss the merits of stablecoins and the scramble by regulators to catch up with the market. Karen Kwok takes a slice at Roger Federer-backed running shoe outfit On.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...

Shareholders cheered the prolific Portuguese striker’s surprise decision to rejoin his former club in England. His three-year stint at Juventus, though, was hardly a clear financial victory. Plus: An $80 bln IPO valuation for electric-truck maker Rivian would be too racy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Markets have been hit by a series of crackdowns in private tutoring, data security and more. Underlying this is Beijing’s effort to limit rich excesses and boost middle-class wealth, which could curb the performance of the country’s biggest and best-known private companies.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beijing was able to expand its influence in central Asia while America and its allies held back the Taliban. The Islamic fundamentalists’ return to power presents China with new challenges – and opportunities. Plus: CEO Mike Henry shakes up mining giant BHP.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new U.N. report on global warming gives financiers fresh reasons to take bigger steps to help avert or mitigate the consequences, Breakingviews editors argue. A plan by the UK’s Prudential and the Asian Development Bank to close coal-fired power stations offers a model. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Square’s $29 bln takeover of Aussie fintech darling Afterpay shines a light on the “buy now, pay later” craze, which poses a big challenge to many established players in the banking and payments businesses, argue Melbourne-based editors Jeff Goldfarb and Antony Currie.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some of the biggest investors, including Brookfield and TPG, are launching mega-funds to invest in the global transition to a net-zero economy in what could be the ultimate new asset class. Richard Beales and Rob Cox discuss. Plus, Beijing’s crackdown on after-school tutoring.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tokyo games are struggling with rising Covid-19 infections, corporations pulling out, an unenthused Japanese public and now a bad Holocaust joke. Pete Sweeney and Rob Cox discuss. Meantime, John Foley says Robinhood resembles E*Trade 20 years ago – in good and bad ways. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earnings of Wall Street’s largest banks confirmed that animal spirits among corporate chiefs and global investors are running high, while pandemic-shy consumers are getting their mojo back. John Foley walks Rob Cox through JPMorgan, Goldman, BofA, Wells Fargo and Citi results.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are private equity firms clogging the aisles at Britain’s WM Morrison to pull off a near-$9 billion purchase of the supermarket chain? Aimee Donnellan and Peter Thal Larsen explain. And our Asia columnists discuss Beijing’s new attitude to U.S.-traded Chinese companies. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China’s Communist Party turns 100. The institution has never been so popular at home or resented abroad. Its leaders are experts at the nuances of control and long on ambition, Pete Sweeney says. Plus, Wall Street enlists individual investors to help price initial stock deals. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Morgan Stanley to BlackRock, the world’s top investment banks and money managers are back in their offices and super busy with mergers, IPOs, LBOs and other activities thumping. Plus, Soho House and Wise go public and green hydrogen megalomania on the Congo river.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blackstone, KKR, Carlyle and other firms are flipping the leveraged buyout playbook with deals that, while less dependent on debt, don’t always add up for their backers. Meanwhile, investment banking is fast becoming the fragrant harbor’s monoculture. Our columnists discuss. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governments and companies are dangling incentives for people to get jabbed against Covid-19. But it will take more than free weed, lottery tickets and beer to reach herd immunity, Jeff Goldfarb explains. And Dasha Afanasieva says take the pastries, leave the Krispy Kreme shares. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...

A small activist fund upended Exxon Mobil’s board while Shell was dealt a setback in a Dutch courtroom. At the same time, Chevron shareholders backed a proposal to cut more emissions. The interests of both stakeholders and shareholders are rapidly aligning in fossil fuels. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The telephone company’s deal with Discovery, the reversal of a failed strategy to become a media juggernaut, opens a window into streaming warfare; and the creation of Southeast Asia do-everything internet group GoTo is a prelude of more to come. Plus, no Davos in Singapore.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China’s census data showed the population grew just 0.53% every year in the decade to 2020, with fertility rates dropping to Japanese levels. That’s bad news for growth. And European rainmakers like Claudio Costamagna and Ian Osborne offer market-friendlier blank-check deals. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though special purpose acquisition vehicles are nothing new, the recent boom in fundraising and dealmaking has provided fertile hunting grounds for Breakingviews columnists. Lauren Silva Laughlin and Richard Beales walk through their new compilation “The Art of the SPAC.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Images of vast funeral pyres, overcrowded hospitals and empty streets have been emanating from India as the country grapples with surging Covid-19 infection rates. Una Galani surveys the situation on the ground from Mumbai and discusses the government’s response with Rob Cox. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The richest European soccer clubs, including Juventus and Real Madrid, swiftly aborted plans to create a breakaway competition. But as Liam Proud and Peter Thal Larsen explain, the financial appeal of a U.S.-style sporting cartel remains irresistible. Plus, Huarong’s woes.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices