The idea that a company as powerful and autocratic as Facebook Inc. would ever dive into crypto-currencies has always seemed a bit like the Death Star deciding to throw a staff Christmas party. Whether it’s the Bitcoin model itself or the more corporate-friendly efforts to exploit the blockchain approach (distributed databases across networks within a business or industry) it’s been ...

KKR & Co. looks like it’s low-balling MYOB Group Ltd. Having initially offered A$3.70 per share for the Australian accounting-software maker, the private equity firm cut its bid to A$3.40. That’s still a premium to recent trading prices and the A$3.15 it paid to acquire a 17.6 percent stake. Yet it’s a discount to peers. KKR’s A$2 billion ($1.4 billion) ...

The governments of France and Italy, under pressure from voters to change their policies, have put forward rule-breaking budgets for next year, and the European Union (EU) has decided to let things slide. Under the current testing circumstances, this flexibility on enforcing the rules is understandable — but it isn’t necessarily wise. To be sure, Italy’s populist administration has climbed down ...