Articles
September 17, 2019
The Attack on Abqaiq: Oil's 5 Percent
There is a fire that burned this weekend, and the fire is the attack: the strikes that hit the Saudi oil facilities on Saturday, the Abqaiq processing plant and the Khurais field, the world's largest oil processing operation, the heart of the kingdom's exports. The attack knocked out the production: five point seven million barrels a day, about half of what Saudi Arabia pumps, about five percent of what the world consumes, the largest single disruption in the history of the oil trade. The attack is the September 2019 story, and the story is the lesson: the fragile machines that the world economy runs on.
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August 16, 2019
WeWork's $47 Billion Paper Tower
There is a tower that is being built this week, and the tower is the paper: the WeWork headquarters in the clouds, the valuation that reached forty-seven billion dollars in January, the company that filed to go public on Wednesday, the S-1 that laid the numbers bare. The filing is the August 14 event: The We Company's prospectus, the losses that run to the billions, the founder who owns the trademark and the buildings, the model that rents long and sells short. The WeWork story is the August 2019 story, and the story is the lesson: the valuation that is a story before it is a business.
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July 25, 2019
The $5 Billion Fine: Facebook's Privacy Reckoning
There is a fine that was announced this week, and the fine is the record: the five billion dollars that Facebook will pay to settle the Federal Trade Commission investigation, the penalty that is the largest in the agency's history, the settlement that was approved by the commissioners and announced on Wednesday. The fine is the reckoning for the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the case that grew out of the 2012 consent order, the investigation that ran for more than a year, the deal that came with a twenty-year decree. The fine is the July 2019 story, and the story is the lesson: the privacy that has become a boardroom matter.
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June 20, 2019
Libra: Facebook's Currency Ambition
There is a currency that arrived this week, and the currency is the Libra: the coin that Facebook unveiled on Tuesday, the white paper that was published on the eighteenth of June, the stablecoin that is backed by a basket of the world's major currencies, the project that is meant to bring banking to the unbanked. The announcement came with the partners in place: Visa and Mastercard and PayPal, Uber and Spotify and Vodafone, Coinbase and Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures, twenty-seven founding members in all, the names that give the project its weight. The Libra is the June 2019 story, and the story is the lesson: the biggest social network that wants to run the world's money.
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May 21, 2019
The Huawei Ban: Android Goes Dark
There is a ban that fell on a giant this week, and the ban is the Huawei: the company that was added to the Entity List by the United States Commerce Department on May 16, the blacklist that cut off the American suppliers, the Google that suspended the Android licenses, the phone maker that is the second largest in the world and now cut off from the software that runs its phones. The ban is the May 2019 story, and the story is the lesson: the decoupling of the technologies, the dependence on the ecosystems, the backup plans that must exist, the race that is being run for the 5G future.
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May 15, 2019
The Tariff Escalation: 25 Percent
There is an escalation that hit the trade this month, and the escalation is the 25 percent: the tariff that the United States raised on $200 billion of Chinese goods, the rate that jumped from 10 to 25 percent on May 10, the talks that collapsed the same day, the escalation that had been threatened in a tweet and then delivered. The escalation is the May 2019 story, and the story is the lesson: the trade policy that is a weapon, the supply chains that must adapt, the uncertainty that is the real cost, the diversification that is the defense.
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March 14, 2019
Grounded: The 737 MAX Is Pulled From the Skies
There is a grounding that spread around the world this week, and the grounding is the first: the 737 MAX that was pulled from the skies after the second crash in five months, the Ethiopian Airlines flight that went down on March 10, the 157 people who died, the jets that were stopped by the regulators, country by country, until the FAA joined on March 13. The grounding is the March 2019 story, and the story is the lesson: the automation that is implicated, the training that is questioned, the safety that is the foundation, the single points of failure that must be found.
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February 26, 2019
The Foldable Bet: Samsung Galaxy Fold
There is a bet that was placed this month in San Francisco, and the bet is the fold: the Galaxy Fold that Samsung unveiled on February 20, 2019, the phone that opens into a tablet, the device that folds down the middle, the first mainstream foldable that the industry has seen. The bet is the February moment: the Unpacked event, the stage, the screen that bent, the price that stunned, the future that was claimed. The Samsung Galaxy Fold is the February 2019 story, and the story is the lesson: the form factor that is new, the display that must bend, the ecosystem that must follow, the premium that someone must pay.
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January 8, 2019
The Apple Warning: When the Forecast Broke
There is a warning that went out this week from Apple, and the warning is the first: the letter that Tim Cook sent to investors on January 2, 2019, the announcement that the quarter would come in below the forecast, the guidance that was cut for the first time since 2002. The warning is the January surprise: the company that almost always beats the numbers, the revenue that would miss the range, the stock that would fall in the days after, the confidence that would be shaken. The Apple warning is the January 2019 story, and the story is the lesson: the forecast that broke, the concentration that was exposed, the honesty that came early.
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January 3, 2019
The Far Side: Chang'e-4 Lands
There is a landing that happened this week on the side of the Moon that no one can see, and the landing is the first: the Chang'e-4 probe that touched down softly on the far side, the spacecraft that settled into the Von Karman crater, the rover that will roll across the dust that has never been touched. The landing happened on January 3, 2019, and it was the first time any machine from Earth has set down on the hemisphere that always faces away, the side that has no direct view of home, the ground that was invisible until the probes flew past. The Chang'e-4 landing is the January 2019 story, and the story is the lesson: the far side that was reached, the relay that made it possible, the engineering that did what no one had done.
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