Opinion

With crowds taking to the streets to call for action on climate change and activists haranguing the United Nations, the issue of global warming is once again front and center. The equivocation of former years seems belatedly to be giving way to a general realisation that something must be done. The effort will be sweeping and global, and starting now ...

Fear has taken control in the bidding war for German lighting group Osram Licht AG. A raised bid of 4 billion euros from AMS AG is well above what the target’s shareholders appeared happy to accept and what rival bidders had put on the table. Osram shareholders win. For AMS’s investors and staff, the risks have substantially increased. The sweetener ...

Private bankers have been gripped by their very own thriller this week, complete with Credit Suisse Group AG spying on a departing executive, an alleged car chase and a bust-up. Managing money for the rich isn’t what it used to be. Prosecutors are probing the incident and Switzerland’s second-largest bank is conducting its own inquiry to determine who among the ...

If you’re wondering why it matters that President Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine while he was requesting political favours from its new president, think about the Ukrainian soldiers who are fighting a nasty proxy war against Russian-backed separatists. America is Ukraine’s ally in this fight. Ukrainian commanders, battling to hold their country together against a five-year onslaught by Russia, ...

Commerzbank AG, Germany’s second-biggest publicly traded bank, has just unveiled a strategic overhaul that is supposed to secure its future as a standalone company. But even if everything goes well, its new “Commerzbank 5.0” plan foresees meager profitability at best. Weakened by fierce domestic competition, bloated costs and a squeeze on margins from negative central bank interest rates, Commerzbank explored ...

“Look away, I’m hideous!” Fresh off its costly deal for the exclusive streaming rights to the sitcom “Seinfeld,” shares of Netflix Inc. are officially in the red this year. That’s as HBO’s parent AT&T Inc., Walt Disney Co. and other old world media giants surge. A five-day losing streak sent Netflix’s 2019 shareholder return into negative territory last week, a ...

Amazon.com Inc.’s recent announcement that its operations will be carbon neutral by 2040 stands out for its sheer size. But Amazon is only one among dozens of companies that announced new carbon-intensity benchmarks at United Nations General Assembly. It’s hardly a new phenomenon. Eighty-one percent of S&P 500 companies had set emissions-reduction or energy-use targets by at least four years ...

Japan’s consumption-tax hike doesn’t look like it’s going to sink the economy, as a similar increase did five years ago. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the bump, to 10% from 8%, is still happening at an inauspicious time. While a recession isn’t in the cards for Japan, the last thing any major economy needs is a ...

WeWork just lost its CEO, its IPO is delayed indefinitely, prospectus details finally reveal massive losses, it’s burning cash like kerosene, and it needs to raise funds imminently. So, of course key backer SoftBank Group Corp. would throw in more money. Already a 29% shareholder of The We Co. – WeWork’s official name – SoftBank is discussing whether to increase ...

Amazon.com Inc. did something odd. It acknowledged that it is a huge and mighty company that must tackle head-on the uncomfortable questions about its power. At an event to roll out new or updated company devices, including limited-quantity eyeglass frames, a ring and wireless headphones all powered by its Alexa digital-voice assistant, a top Amazon executive said personal data privacy ...