November, 2018

• 7 November

  Facebook, Google are election ad winners despite meddling outcry

  

  Bloomberg Even before ballots are counted from the elections, some clear winners have emerged, as Google and Facebook Inc. reap windfalls from political advertising after a season of controversy over online political speech. Political ad spending is on course to set a record, exceeding expenditures in the 2016 presidential election year, with a total of perhaps $9 billion. Political ad ...

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• 7 November

  Dell reaches out to DVMT investors to discuss deal terms

  

  Bloomberg Dell Technologies Inc. has reached out to investors to determine what it would take to win their support for its plans to return to the public markets, a person familiar with the matter said. Shareholders, including activist investor Carl Icahn, have balked at the terms of Dell’s proposed deal to take the technology giant public through a $21.7 billion ...

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• 7 November

  Qualcomm dealt setback in ‘monopoly abuse’

  

  Bloomberg Qualcomm Inc. suffered a setback in its fight with US antitrust regulators who accuse the semiconductor maker of abusing a monopoly in chips for cell phones and raising costs for consumers. US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, sided with the Federal Trade Commission on part of the agency’s antitrust case against Qualcomm ahead of a trial ...

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• 7 November

  VW takes another shot at compact pickup market

  

  Bloomberg Volkswagen AG plans a renewed push into the lucrative pickup segment that’s elu-ded the German manufacturer for years. The compact Tarok, shown in Sao Paulo, “will soon” be offered in Brazil, the company said in a statement. The truck “has the potential to boost Volkswagen’s model range in other global markets,” it said without providing details. The world’s biggest ...

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• 7 November

  May’s closing in on Brexit deal can’t stem business exodus

  

  Bloomberg Just as Prime Minister Theresa May is closing in on a Brexit deal, the march of companies quitting Britain is getting louder. On one day alone, CME Group Inc. said it’s moving its $240 billion-a-day short-term financing market to Amsterdam from London in another blow for the City, while German ball bearings maker Schaeffler AG announced the closing of ...

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• 7 November

  France’s referendum lesson for Brexit Britain

  

  A second referendum on Brexit is portrayed as an attack on democracy by ardent Leavers, and has been outright rejected by the UK government. While a growing chorus of businesses and voters like the idea, some politicians say it would be divisive, unhelpful and akin to telling Brits that they got it wrong first time. Yet over the weekend, a ...

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• 7 November

  SBI still cheers after eight misfires

  

  State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Rajnish Kumar wants to assure investors he’s in complete control of the ‘demon’ of soured loans. Not so fast, Aladdin. The bank’s first quarterly profit in 12 months is no doubt an encouraging sign, though net income of $129 million on a $284 billion loan book is hardly worth celebrating. Besides, it’s premature for ...

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• 7 November

  Singapore lenders’ good times have come and gone

  Very little went wrong for DBS Group Holdings Ltd. last quarter. Singapore’s biggest bank, the last to report earnings, posted a 76 percent jump in net income. Net interest margins widened 13 basis points and credit costs were 71 percent lower than a year earlier. Investment banking wobbled, but trading income surged to compensate. The joys of being a bank ...

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• 7 November

  A new direction for China’s Belt and Road

  “To get rich, first build a road” is one of those Chinese proverbs that tends to impress foreigners — evoking, as it does, a combination of farsightedness and concern for practicalities. As China is discovering with its globe-spanning Belt and Road project, though, the world doesn’t always play along. The initiative has run into trouble, and its success now depends ...

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• 7 November

  A $6 trillion barrier holds electric cars back again

  

  Wouldn’t it be great if we could all drive without dirtying the air we breathe? Alas, not everyone can afford an electric car. The good news is the death of the internal combustion engine is nearing and electric-vehicle sales are on a tear. Countries that together account for more than 10 percent of global auto sales have detailed plans to ...

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