In a world biggest IPO, Saudi Aramco sets off to raise a record US$25.6bn with its IPO on 5 December. The company sold shares for 32 Saudi riyals (US$8.53) each, which gave it a market valuation of US$1.7tn when shares started trading on 11 December. Shares increased 10% when they started trading. The valuation fell short of the US$2tn desired by … more
On 6 November Westpac, Australia’s 2nd biggest bank by market capitalisation, announces that cash profit fell 15% to A$6.85bn in 2019. Its worst financial results in a decade follow costs linked to a public inquiry into misconduct, a faltering economy and low interest rates. The bank intends to raise A$2.5bn capital through an equity raising, to ensure it complies new regulations on bank … more
On 22 October SoftBank takes control of WeWork. It’s biggest investor took the decision after WeWork has been in turmoil since filing in August at the SEC for its IPO. At the time Google from its assessment of Internet data found highly negative sentiment trends related to a company that since nine years operated under the mission “to elevate the world’s … more
In September a Financial Times commodities report signals that Latin American ranchers are benefiting from surging Chinese beef demand. Chinese beef imports from Latin America have soared after swine fever swept across rural China. Benefitting most, Argentina had exports up 129% year-on-year to 186,000 tonnes. Brazil was second-biggest exporter to China at 180,000 tonnes in the year to August, up … more
On 19 August The Business Roundtable, a group of chief executive officers from major US corporations, issues a new position on the “purpose of a corporation.” Over 180 chief executives, including Walmart and JPMorgan Chase, overturned three decades of orthodoxy on shareholder primacy. The statement acknowledged that the duty of management and directors is not foremost to maximise shareholder value. … more
On 7 July Deutsche Bank (DB) announces its “most fundamental transformation in decades”. Its supervisory board meets to discuss a major restructuring that may result in 20,000 job cuts. DB has been plagued by ratings downgrades, fines and management upheavals. Its investment banking was often the culprit, while generating half DB’s revenue. DB sets out to shrink its ailing investment … more
On 30 June Alibaba reports impressive quarterly results, especially boosted by its ecommerce and cloud computing businesses. It reported revenue of 114.92 billion yuan (US$16.74 billion), an increase of 42% year-over-year (compared to 61% year-on-year revenue growth for the same period 2018). It reported non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) of 12.55 yuan versus 10.25 yuan expected. Its cloud computing … more
10 May is Uber’s IPO on Wall Street. Its highly anticipated stock market debut was expected to define the era of the unicorns (tech start-ups valued at US$1bn or more). Getting its business model for the ride-hailing market to scale requires long-term subsidies to both drivers and riders. To do this Uber had to raise US$25bn in equity and debt … more
At a difficult Bayer Annual General Meeting on 26 April, 55.5% of its shareholders vote against absolving CEO Werner Baumann and other managers of responsibility for their actions in the takeover of Monsanto in 2018. The vote was followed by an emergency session of the company’s supervisory board. The no confidence vote has no precedent in German postwar corporate history. … more
On 20 March the European Commission fines Alphabet Inc.’s Google 1.5 billion euros for antitrust violations in the online advertising market. In what it describes as “abusive practices” in online advertising, the Commission found Google broke the EU’s antitrust rules and abused its market dominance by preventing or limiting its rivals from working with companies that had deals with Google. The case revolves around … more
Shares of packaged food giant Kraft Heinz fall nearly 25% in February after the company wrote down US$15.4 billion on two of its most iconic brands, Kraft and Mayer. It also cut its dividend by 36% to 40 cents and announced it had received a subpoena from the SEC on its accounting policies and internal mechanics in 2018. Brazilian private equity giant … more
On 29 January the Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Corp in California files for bankruptcy protection following hundreds of lawsuits from victims of wildfires in 2017 – 2018 and tens of billions of dollars in potential liabilities. The company has been linked to a series of wildfires in California, including Camp Fire, which caused 86 deaths and destroyed 14,000 homes, … more
