Opinion

The Silicon Valley innovation machine is the envy of the world. It’s where the most ambitious entrepreneurs go to start their world-changing companies. But President Donald Trump’s latest action to restrict immigration may needlessly risk the future of this key strategic asset. Perhaps, instead, we shouldn’t mess with something that is working. Trump signed an executive order that freezes access ...

I sometimes refer to the Covid-19 pandemic as “the great psychometric test.” We are all being placed under different kinds of strain, and we have the chance to react for better or worse. One set of tests has concerned masks. There is increasing evidence that masks stem the spread of the virus, yet the US is not embracing mask-wearing. It ...

As Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp unloads about 200 million shares of T-Mobile US Inc, more investors get a chance to own a top-performing stock that had been hogged by insiders. SoftBank’s fire sale isn’t a knock on T-Mobile, but rather a reluctant move by billionaire Masayoshi Son to shore up his own troubled conglomerate. Indeed, his loss will be someone ...

One stereotype about Germans is that they love to complain, typically with self-righteous bluster and hair-splitting inflexibility. Much less known is the addendum. Having complained, and realising that their position is untenable, Germans are also remarkably adept at changing the subject and moving on. You see this in domestic politics all the time. Last fall the Social Democrats, the junior ...

Dell Technologies Inc’s magical merry-go-round of financial engineering is spinning once again. The corporate computing giant is examining options for its majority stake in software-company VMware Inc. that include a spinoff of the holdings, the Wall Street Journal reported. VMware shares soared roughly 10% on the news in after-market trading, valuing Dell’s 81% stake at around $55 billion. To understand ...

It can be said without fear of contradiction that the government’s strategy for dealing with the economy’s pandemic collapse is utterly simple: Throw money at the problem. Lots of money. That’s the chief legacy of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act. Remember, it and other related measures will cost $2.4 trillion over a decade, with ...

Cupertino, we have a problem. Apple Inc kicked off its Worldwide Developers Conference — a week-long annual event for the millions of programmers who create the apps that are enjoyed by roughly a billion iPhone users. It’s meant to be a platform for celebrating the tech giant’s developer community, but this year the backdrop is different — and not just ...

After bringing everything to a screeching halt in an all-out war against the coronavirus, French President Emmanuel Macron wants to get the economy going again. The dark draconian days of the Covid-19 lockdown are over, confirmed cases have continued to fall, and June 22 marks a new roll-back of stay-at-home curbs as cinemas, museums and more schools reopen. To do ...

The best thing you can say about President Donald Trump’s changing his mind about meeting with Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s strongman, is that it’s not surprising. In an interview with Axios, Trump said he had turned down Maduro’s envoys before. But now, he said, “Maduro would like to meet. And I’m never opposed to meetings — you know, rarely opposed to ...

Japan’s corporate culture is stuck in a bad place. But the coronavirus pandemic might have given it just the nudge it needs to get out of the trap. From the 1960s through the 1980s, the country developed a corporate system that worked well. Managers, rather than shareholders, controlled companies, allowing long-term planning and investment, keeping employment levels high and fostering ...