Opinion

For all the concern over China’s targeting of foreign intellectual property, how much forced transfer of leading-edge technology really happened? By the looks of the Chinese auto industry, hardly any. If there has been, then Beijing has precious little to show for it in a market of 25 million cars a year. Take the case of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings ...

The sight of “yellow vest” protesters torching cars and smashing storefronts on some of the poshest avenues in Paris this month was a double-blow for the city’s Mayor Anne Hidalgo. First, it was a clear hit to the image of Paris as a global magnet for talent, investment and technology. Hidalgo has spent much of the last two years talking ...

Shipping is the lifeblood of global commerce — more than 80 percent of world trade goes by water. But the industry is also an environmental menace, producing as much carbon dioxide annually as Germany. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has helpfully called for ships to produce about 85 percent less sulfur by the end of next year, and to halve ...

Asteroid impacts used to be science popularisers’ favorite existential threat, but space rocks have been displaced by atmospheric carbon. This is not just fashion but the result of a new reading of our planet’s past. In the 1990s, scientists thought asteroid impacts had triggered five mass extinctions, including the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Now, they’ve come ...

The biggest acquisition of a Hong Kong company this year shows that the lure of insurance as a means to access the vast pool of mainland Chinese savings remains undimmed. Last week a company controlled by one of the city’s oldest business families beat out Canada’s Sun Life Financial Inc. to buy FTLife Insurance Co., a minnow in an insurance ...

After several high-profile investigations into US-based tech companies that resulted in large fines but little meaningful change in the firms’ practices, the European Union’s antitrust authorities are being asked to open a wide-ranging inquiry into the digital advertising market. It’s long overdue. The request comes from Brave Software Inc., the company founded by Brendan Eich, one of the original creators ...

In a recent column, I observed that by many measures, China is the world’s largest economy. This means a number of benefits will now flow — and indeed are already flowing — to China that used to go to the US and Europe. Chief among these is agglomeration, of the tendency of businesses to seek out the biggest markets and ...

The slow death of the conglomerate has been a theme in the developed world, exemplified this year by the decline of General Electric Co. to a shadow of its former self. By contrast, Asia’s sprawling family-controlled groups have continued to thrive. That’s not to say they’re free of challenges. Victor Li, 54, sits atop a global empire spanning telecom, ports, ...

It’s almost 80 years since Fred Schwed’s book “Where are the Customers’ Yachts?” lifted the lid on Wall Street’s propensity to enrich itself at the expense of its clients. A new study suggests that the most lucrative investment a fund could make would be paying to relocate its operations as far away from the financiers as possible. In a paper ...

FedEx Corp. failed to deliver, as did the Federal Reserve. The two broad factors that shape emerging-market investing – global growth and the path of US rates – aren’t playing out well. On December 19, FedEx shares plunged 12 percent, the most in a decade, as the company cut its earnings outlook just three months after raising it. CEO Fred ...