Opinion

The first task for the Brexit negotiators is to agree on the rights of European Union citizens in Britain, and of UK citizens in the EU. In a rational world, this would be straightforward. In the real world, it will be a problem if one side or the other chooses to make it one. Roughly 3.2 million EU citizens live …

For all their national pride and natural boosterism, Chinese officials don’t seem to think much of their own companies. Regulators have sought to limit everything from high-speed trading to short-selling, arguing Chinese firms can’t yet handle the vagaries of modern financial markets. They’re particularly leery of greater transparency, for fear of what might be exposed. Only last week, the China …

I’m going to wade into the debate over how to value companies that are technology-ish. There are understandable questions about whether mattress startup Casper, home-delivered razor seller Dollar Shave Club or meal-kit company Blue Apron should be valued like their old-guard competitors (meaning cheap) or more like internet companies that are in the business of bytes rather than real-world merchandise. …

Blue Apron is a company that claims to have “reimagined the traditional grocery business model.” Its recent disappointing initial public offering makes you wonder if investors are losing faith in such ‘reimaginings.’ Perhaps not, but it’s time to ask ourselves whether even some of Silicon Valley’s most vaunted attempts to rethink traditional business processes are sound, and what kind of …

Two Junes ago, when the Supreme Court upheld, 6-3, a challenged provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, vented: “Congress wrote key parts of the Act behind closed doors. Congress passed much of the Act using a complicated budgetary procedure known as ‘reconciliation,’ which limited opportunities for debate and amendment, and bypassed …

Financial markets are frothier than a millennial’s 3-D latte. Investors are scrambling to throw money at Argentina, Vice Media and George Clooney’s tequila. Only the crypto-currency craze seems to give us comfort there are worse bubbles out there. The latest warning against digital currencies comes from Aberdeen Asset Management’s top venture capitalist, Peter Denious. He blames a feeding frenzy of …

The European Commission’s decision to let Italy spend up to 17 billion euros ($19 billion) to clean up the mess left by two failed banks is bad news — and not just for Italy’s taxpayers. It’s also a setback for the euro zone’s putative banking union, and for the European Union’s efforts to supervise anti-competitive state aid. Over the weekend, …

Malware has yet again disrupted businesses around the world, just weeks after hackers used leaked National Security Administration tools in a global cyberattack called WannaCry. The ultimate target in both cases may be people’s sensitive information — a troubling reality that should finally motivate organizations to get serious about security. The recent attack was more sophisticated than WannaCry, which took …

Imagine that a European leader invaded England and deposed the legitimate head of state, leaving a Dutchman in charge of the country. If you didn’t know any better, you might think this is an overwrought caricature of what the European Union was supposed to bring to British affairs, at least pre-Brexit; that story sounds far worse than the regulations, taxes …

It seems that barely a week goes by these days without a titan of Japan Inc. falling on hard times. Shareholders are gripped by a sense of dread that the great corporate leaders that helped build the world’s third-largest economy are losing their grip. The fear is spreading to even the best-run companies. While those emotions are understandable, investors would …