Opinion

The club of UK takeover targets that never get bought has an undisputed leader — Pearson Plc. But the logic of taking the troubled educational publisher private now looks stronger than it has for some time. The company’s defenses could scarcely be weaker, and there’s a plausible recovery strategy to be built amid the wreckage. The firm has been clobbered ...

In the late 20th century, economists generally accepted the notion that financial capital should be allowed to flow freely between countries. But economists are beginning to question this consensus. That could lead to less open financial and currency policies around the world, or herald the coming of a new global monetary order. There are a number of reasons that free ...

You know British politics has been turned on its head when a Conservative government jumps in to rescue a failing company, and Labour supporters criticise the bailout as market distorting and wasteful. Yet that’s the odd situation that arises from the UK’s decision to save struggling regional airline Flybe. When faced with the collapses of travel agent Thomas Cook, contracting ...

Xerox Holdings Corp. is best known for inventing the modern photocopier. When it comes to the company’s $33 billion attempt to acquire HP Inc., Chief Executive Officer John Visentin needs to do more than simply copy and repeat the same terms. It has been almost two months since larger rival HP rejected Xerox’s initial bid. Since then, little in the ...

The good news is, someday soon “triple play” will mean something only to baseball fans. These days, though, cable-TV customers probably still know it better as the industry’s torture device. Triple-play bundles refer to long-term contracts with a company such as Comcast Corp. or Charter Communications Inc. that provide internet, television and landline-phone service for one “discounted” rate. These packages ...

A big story in Silicon Valley last year was late-stage growth companies learning that public markets no longer had an appetite for startups that were growing quickly but whose future profitability was dubious. For examples, look no further than the disappointing market debuts for companies such as Uber and Lyft and the withdrawn initial public offering of WeWork. Although that ...

What was going on at Nissan Motor Co. for the last two decades? With all his complaints about Nissan subordinates and the “depth of deprivation” he endured at the hands of the Japanese justice system, Carlos Ghosn didn’t really answer that at a news conference where he portrayed himself as a victim of human-rights abuses. Ghosn didn’t want to talk ...

Boeing Co.’s new CEO shouldn’t need an extra wheelbarrow of money to do his job. David Calhoun officially took over the top role following the December ouster of Dennis Muilenburg over his ham-handed management of the crisis engulfing the 737 Max. With the plane having now been grounded for 10 months in the wake of two fatal crashes, Boeing decided ...

Christmas 2019 should be consigned to the dustbin along with the crumpled wrapping paper and the wilted tree. That’s the message that has come in loud and clear from British retailers. And it caps off a miserable year. Total sales for 2019 fell by 0.1%, the worst year on record, according to the British Retail Consortium and KPMG. There’s no ...

“It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future” —Statement often attributed to Yankees baseball star Yogi Berra We are at that time of year when economic columnists (and all manner of other commentators, too) are expected to make wise and insightful judgments about the next 12 months. You should be wary of these predictions, which are highly ritualistic and ...