Business this week
《经济学人》2018年10月6日 刊
Investors responded positively to General Electric’s decision to oust John Flannery as chief executive. He had held the job for a year, a blink of an eye compared with his two predecessors, Jeff Immelt (16 years) and Jack Welch (20 years). During his abbreviated time in the job Mr Flannery announced a plan to refocus GE on three core areas—power, aerospace and health care—but investors weren’t happy at the slow pace of the turnaround, nor at GE’s lacklustre share price. The new CEO is Larry Culp, an outsider who joined the board this year.
Thanks, but no thanks
Danske Bank removed Thomas Borgen as chief executive with immediate effect following the revelation that much of the €200bn ($230bn) in foreign money, mostly Russian, that flowed through a branch of the Danish bank in Estonia had been laundered. Mr Borgen had resigned but offered to stay on until a replacement was named.
Facebook began an investigation into the source of a cyber-attack that compromised the accounts of up to 50m users, the biggest hack yet to hit the social network. It was another setback for the company, which has had to contend with privacy scandals and criticisms about the infiltration of its network by rogue groups.
Tesla’s share price yo-yoed. It plunged by 15% after the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Elon Musk of making fraudulent statements when he tweeted in August that he planned to take the company private. It rebounded when Mr Musk reached a quick settlement with the regulator, relinquishing his role as chairman but remaining chief executive. The electric-carmaker is also to strengthen its oversight of Mr Musk’s often mercurial communications. The imbroglio overshadowed Tesla hitting its production targets for the Model 3 for the first time. It produced 53,239 Model 3s in the latest quarter, but is still struggling with deliveries.
Honda said it would invest $2.75bn in General Motors’ autonomous-vehicle development project. GM Cruise hopes to have its first cars on the road next year. Toyota and SoftBank, meanwhile, formed a strategic partnership to develop “new mobility services”.
Aston Martin’s share price fell sharply on its first day of trading on the stockmarket. The British maker of sports cars priced its IPO at £19 ($24.70) a share, giving it a lower valuation than it had sought.
Volkswagen ended the contract of Rupert Stadler as CEO of its Audi unit, as a criminal investigation continues into his alleged role in VW’s emissions-cheating scandal. Mr Stadler has not been charged with a crime, but he has been kept in custody since June at the request of prosecutors, who think he might attempt to interfere with their work.
Deliveroo, a food-delivery firm and one of the fastest-growing startups in Britain’s gig economy, reported that although sales had more than doubled last year, its pre-tax annual loss had widened to £185m ($240m) as it forked out for new technology. Deliveroo is said to be discussing a partnership with Uber.
A prime package
Amid political pressure about its pay practices in America and Britain, Amazon announced new minimum wages for its workers in both countries. In America its national hourly wage will be $15, smoothing out differences among cities. In Britain Amazon will pay staff in London £10.50 ($13.70) an hour. That is 30 pence above the minimum recommended by the Living Wage Foundation, an advisory body. Outside London it will pay £9.50.
Following pressure from activist investors, thyssenkrupp announced a plan to split itself in two. The German conglomerate will spin off its profitable elevator-technology business, car-parts unit and factory-construction assets into a separately listed company.
Petrobras was fined $853m by America’s Justice Department to settle allegations of corruption. Because Brazil’s state oil company trades on American markets it was subject to investigation under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Funding Circle’s highly anticipated IPO was a let-down. Shares in the peer-to-peer lender, a bellwether of London’s fintech industry, closed 17% below the offer price on the first full day of trading.
Harvard’s loss
Gita Gopinath was named as the IMF’s new chief economist, replacing Maurice Obstfeld, who is retiring. Ms Gopinath is a world authority on exchange rates, sovereign debt and capital flows and has written extensively about the dollar’s continued supremacy in world trade. The strength of the greenback has exacerbated currency crises in places such as Argentina, which has turned to the IMF for a bail-out.
Oct 4th 2018
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