April, 2019

• 16 April

  Does Assange merit First Amendment protection?

  

  Is Julian Assange a journalist? The Justice Department sidestepped that question in its indictment of Assange. But his case is still certain to stir a debate about whether the WikiLeaks founder deserves protection under the First Amendment. Assange was arrested in London on April 11, as US prosecutors unsealed an indictment accusing him of conspiring with Chelsea Manning to hack ...

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• 16 April

  Uber, Lyft leave their drivers behind

  

  The difference between tech insiders and the hoi polloi is that the tech insiders make their real money long before a company goes public. This is especially true of the so-called unicorns — those tech companies with pre-IPO valuations of $1 billion or more. The insiders invest when the company is still in its early stages, while it’s raising money ...

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• 16 April

  Even for a bank, 12,000 job cuts seems excessive

  Ten thousand here, another couple thousand there. Lately, dramatic job cuts seem to be par for the course at the world’s banks. Even by those standards, though, Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s plan to trim 10,000 to 12,000 jobs is eye-popping. The lender is “secretly” preparing to cut a quarter of its workforce in coming years, and shutter up to a ...

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• 16 April

  China’s ‘Belt and Road’ won’t be a path to power

  TThe global economic development initiative that China calls “One Belt, One Road” is considered one of Beijing’s major instruments in its geopolitical conflict with the US. But it’s unlikely to do much to boost Chinese power as it helps most of the world. China is investing in fixed assets and infrastructure from southeast Asia to the Balkans and East Africa. ...

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• 16 April

  Brexit Britain is really tired of its weak leaders

  

  After almost three years of wrangling and gridlock following the 2016 European Union (EU) referendum, more than half of British voters say they long for a strong leader. It’s not an unreasonable demand in the current bleak situation. The 2019 “Audit of Political Engagement” by the Hansard Society (a group co-led by the speakers of the two houses of the ...

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• 16 April

  Softbank’s Masa Son has $7.7b Uber ticket to ride

  

  The SoftBank Vision Fund paid about $7.7 billion for its 16.3 percent stake in Uber Technologies Inc. A more important number is what Uber’s bankers can turn that into when the ride-sharing company IPOs on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Investors in the Vision Fund, and in Masayoshi Son’s listed SoftBank Group Corp., are rightly expecting a windfall. This ...

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• 16 April

  Department stores are dead? Nobody told Primark

  

  The department store isn’t dead. Turns out, it was just in the changing room. In the week that Debenhams Plc, once a household name, passed into the hands of its lenders, Primark opened its biggest ever-outlet in Birmingham. The new store is an upgrade on the old awkwardly shaped unit Primark had occupied in the city since 2002. At 160,000 ...

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• 16 April

  Best Buy hands rein to key architect of its growth story

  

  Bloomberg In naming Corie Barry chief executive officer, Best Buy Co hands the reins to the architect of its current growth strategy, widely considered to be one of the retail industry’s most remarkable turnarounds. Barry, chief financial and strategic transformation officer, will replace Hubert Joly in June after almost seven years at the helm. In her outgoing role, she oversaw ...

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• 16 April

  Lufthansa falls as Q1 profit slump surprises analysts

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG shares dropped as Europe’s largest airline reported a first-quarter loss that was 80 percent higher than the average analyst estimate. The stock fell as much as 5 percent after Lufthansa posted an adjusted loss before interest and tax of 336 million euros ($380 million). The figure was worse than any of 12 earnings estimates and came ...

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• 16 April

  Trump to Boeing: Choose new name for 737 Max jet

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump gave Boeing Co a little advice on Twitter. The company should fix its troubled 737 Max and choose a new name following the Ethiopian Air Lines and Lion Air Crashes. “What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 Max, add ...

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