WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) - It’s possible that Americans will start to care about U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan once they find out the production of their new Toyota is risk. If strains between China and Taiwan continue to worsen, the People’s Republic has a trump card: threatening to cut off the island’s exports, which include products from pivotal chipmaker TSMC, formally known as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (2330.TW). That company plays an outsized role in the global economy, supplying Apple (AAPL.O), Qualcomm , and other industrial giants with key components. It should be enough to make even Americans - who otherwise remain largely uninterested - nervous.

Pelosi’s trip earlier this week was the first time a U.S. House speaker has gone to the region since 1997. Beijing, which is in a much stronger position now, responded by launching its largest military drills ever in the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, which included firing...

HONG KONG, Aug 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Chinese officials love enumeration: the "Three Represents" outlines the responsibilities of the Chinese Communist Party; the "Five Confidences" codify socialism with Chinese characteristics. The latest "Eight Suspends" may well become shorthand for the final stage of the disintegrating relationship between Washington and the People’s Republic.

On Friday Beijing ended bilateral cooperation on drugs, climate, military dialogue and crime after House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, an independently governed island over which China claims sovereignty. In the near-term little will change because actual collaboration in those areas was at best minimal in the first place.

Some American negotiators may even be relieved. Over the weekend, China’s navy has turned the Taiwan Strait into an enormous missile testing ground, but that is preferable to a full-scale blockade or invasion. Beijing has also banned a...

HONG KONG, Aug 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Chinese officials love enumeration: the "Three Represents" outlines the responsibilities of the Chinese Communist Party; the "Five Confidences" codify socialism with Chinese characteristics. The latest "Eight Suspends" may well become shorthand for the final stage of the disintegrating relationship between Washington and the People’s Republic.

On Friday Beijing ended bilateral cooperation on drugs, climate, military dialogue and crime after House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, an independently governed island over which China claims sovereignty. In the near-term little will change because actual collaboration in those areas was at best minimal in the first place.

Some American negotiators may even be relieved. Over the weekend, China’s navy has turned the Taiwan Strait into an enormous missile testing ground, but that is preferable to a full-scale blockade or invasion. Beijing has also banned a...

HONG KONG, Aug 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - China’s financial constraints raise the risk of a showdown with the United States. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, landed in Taiwan on Tuesday despite warnings from Beijing not to visit the island it has vowed to reunify by force, if necessary. Economic volatility and vital supply chains make it hard for Chinese President Xi Jinping to retaliate against U.S. and Taiwanese companies. Oddly, that might make a military confrontation more likely.

Pelosi has a record of grandstanding on China; in 1991 she unrolled a banner in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in support of democracy protesters. Now she’s become the second speaker to visit Taiwan, following Newt Gingrich in 1997, when relations were warmer, and China was weaker. Though U.S. President Joe Biden has distanced his administration from the visit, Chinese state media is warning of a military response.

For American and Taiwanese businesses, the...

MELBOURNE, Aug 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Just how involved should billionaire bosses be in their side projects? Tesla (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk is notorious for juggling several businesses, though they’re usually within his wheelhouse. His aborted bid for Twitter (TWTR.N), though, is a prime example of the dangers of overreach. The co-CEOs of $53 billion software firm Atlassian (TEAM.O) can offer pointers on how to do a better job of mission-creep.

Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes are using their own cash to chase deals outside of their company’s core business. Skip Capital, the investment firm founded by Farquhar and his wife Kim Jackson, is leading a consortium to take private an Australian renewable energy outfit, Genex Power (GNX.AX). On Monday the target rejected last week’s A$319 million ($223 million) offer, though it wants to keep negotiating. Cannon-Brookes, meanwhile, set his sights on the biggest carbon emitter Down Under, AGL Energy (AGL.AX):...

LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Shipping giants are sending out an unlikely warning signal about the global economy. Danish behemoth A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) said on Tuesday it would probably land a whopping $37 billion of EBITDA this year due to sky-high freight rates. The trouble is its valuation gives minimal credit to what lies beyond the immediate horizon, implying stormier seas ahead.

Container operators have been one of the biggest beneficiaries of pandemic-related disruptions. With port closures throwing ocean timetables – and thus global supply chains – into disarray, freight rates have soared as companies fork out hefty premiums to secure berths. Last September, the average cost of moving a container from A to B was $11,000, compared to around $1,300 in 2019, according to forwarder Freightos. With their fixed cost bases, companies like Maersk saw their profits increase fourfold from pre-pandemic levels.

Getting the global logistics system...

WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Technology companies have stormed the heights of consumer finance, but they don’t face the regulation that vexes their old-world rivals. While no single financial watchdog has oversight of Apple (AAPL.O), Amazon.com (AMZN.O) or Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O), that could change. It all hangs on the views of a panel of watchdogs known as the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

When a company like Apple decides to offer financial services, the potential impact is huge. Take the iPhone maker’s new buy-now-pay-later service. It’s starting small, with six-week duration loans and a borrowing limit of $1,000. But unlike the Apple-branded credit card that’s effectively run by Goldman Sachs (GS.N), the lending decisions and funding for buy-now-pay-later loans are Apple’s own. Tim Cook’s firm is doing some of what a Citigroup (C.N) or Bank of America (BAC.N) does, but without the onerous regulation.

It's a question of...

Central banks’ reactions to rising prices come in three steps, BNP Paribas reckons: denial, acceptance, and action. Brazil and Chile are further along, having hiked rates quickly as pressures mounted. Investors will prefer them to countries stuck in the first stage, like Turkey.

Central banks’ reactions to rising prices come in three steps, BNP Paribas reckons: denial, acceptance, and action. Brazil and Chile are further along, having hiked rates quickly as pressures mounted. Investors will prefer them to countries stuck in the first stage, like Turkey.

Central banks’ reactions to rising prices come in three steps, BNP Paribas reckons: denial, acceptance, and action. Brazil and Chile are further along, having hiked rates quickly as pressures mounted. Investors will prefer them to countries stuck in the first stage, like Turkey.

Posted

Investing in listening devices for the elderly may not sound sexy. Yet shares in Amplifon, founded by a former British spy in 1950 and worth $11 billion, have more than tripled in the past five years, outperforming Amazon and Facebook. Lend an ear to Lisa Jucca to find out why.

Shares of On, backed by the tennis legend, soared 50% on debut, valuing the running-shoe maker at $11 bln. Rapid sales growth supports the steep valuation. But On has plenty of rivals, and its early success in China may fall foul of Beijing’s hostility to foreign brands.

Gallic raider Vincent Bolloré may buy publisher Lagardere for 4.6 bln euros, ending a battle for control of the Paris Match owner also involving LVMH boss Bernard Arnault. His Vivendi can make a healthy return, while CEO Arnaud Lagardere at least gets to come along for the ride.

LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - 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.

Listen to the podcast

Follow @rob1cox on Twitter

Posted

Investing in listening devices for the elderly may not sound sexy. Yet shares in Amplifon, founded by a former British spy in 1950 and worth $11 billion, have more than tripled in the past five years, outperforming Amazon and Facebook. Lend an ear to Lisa Jucca to find out why.

LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - On (ONON.N) has burst out of the IPO blocks at a blistering pace. Shares of the Roger Federer-backed Swiss sneaker company popped 50% on debut in New York on Wednesday, giving it an $11 billion valuation. With plenty of rivals on its heels and potential political headwinds in China, it may be priced for a sprint, not a marathon.

The tennis maestro bought a stake in the 11-year-old company two years ago. Since then, its track record is stellar, powered mainly by the pandemic boom in running. Sales have grown 60% a year, and the pace may have picked up even more this year - revenue in North America, On’s biggest market, doubled from a year ago in the first six months.

That said, an $11 billion valuation, equivalent to 13 times On’s expected sales of about $800 million this year, looks like an overstretch. Sports behemoth Nike (NKE.N), currently worth $249 billion, trades on a lowly 5 times this year’s sales. Meanwhile $54...

Gallic raider Vincent Bolloré may buy publisher Lagardere for 4.6 bln euros, ending a battle for control of the Paris Match owner also involving LVMH boss Bernard Arnault. His Vivendi can make a healthy return, while CEO Arnaud Lagardere at least gets to come along for the ride.

Shares of On, backed by the tennis legend, soared 50% on debut, valuing the running-shoe maker at $11 bln. Rapid sales growth supports the steep valuation. But On has plenty of rivals, and its early success in China may fall foul of Beijing’s hostility to foreign brands.

LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - 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.

Listen to the podcast

Follow @rob1cox on Twitter