Articles
December 7, 2018
The Arrest: Huawei's CFO in Vancouver
The arrest is the story, and the story is the ripple: Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, the daughter of the founder, detained in Vancouver on December 1 at the request of the United States, the case that exploded into a diplomatic crisis within days. The Americans say she lied to the banks about the business in Iran, that the dealings with HSBC broke the sanctions, that she must be extradited to face the charges. The arrest is the December 2018 story, and the story is the lesson: the executive who carries the risk of the company, the geopolitics that reaches into the boardroom, the compliance that became a matter of state.
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November 15, 2018
HQ2: Amazon Picks Two Cities
The pick is the story, and the story is the split: two cities instead of one, Long Island City in Queens and Crystal City in Arlington, the announcement that came on November 13, the end of a search that began with 238 bids, the decision that surprised even the finalists. Amazon said it would bring 50,000 jobs, 25,000 to each city, with $5 billion in investment, the hiring that will stretch over a decade and more, the headquarters that will sit on the East River and the Potomac. The HQ2 pick is the November 2018 story, and the story is the lesson: the site selection that became a spectacle, the incentives that followed the winner, the power that the biggest employer holds.
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October 30, 2018
The $34 Billion Open-Source Bet: IBM Buys Red Hat
The bet is the story, and the story is the price: $34 billion, the sum that IBM agreed to pay for Red Hat, the announcement that came on October 28, the largest software acquisition in history, the biggest deal the company has ever done. IBM said it would pay $190 a share in cash, a premium of about 63 percent over the last closing price, a price that stunned the market and rewarded the faithful shareholders. The $34 billion bet is the October 2018 story, and the story is the lesson: the old giant that buys the new model, the open source that became the strategy, the hybrid cloud that everyone must now chase.
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October 9, 2018
The $15 Wage: Amazon's Minimum
The wage is the story, and the story is the number: $15, the minimum that Amazon promised to pay its American workers, the announcement that came on October 2, the change that takes effect on November 1, the decision that answered the critics and silenced the loudest one. Amazon said it would raise the pay of every United States employee, the 250,000 full-time workers and the 100,000 seasonal hires, the warehouse staff and the Whole Foods cashiers, the biggest wage move in the company's history. The $15 wage is the October 2018 story, and the story is the lesson: the pressure that politics puts on business, the wage that becomes the standard, the floor that everyone else must now match.
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September 14, 2018
The Succession: Jack Ma Steps Back
The succession is the announcement, and the announcement is the plan: the executive chairman who will step down in a year, the chief executive who will take the chair, the founder who will return to the teaching and the foundation, the handover that was revealed on September 10. The succession is the September 2018 story: the Alibaba that Jack Ma co-founded in a Hangzhou apartment in 1999, the company that grew to 420 billion dollars of market value, the transition that was years in the making, the announcement that came on the founder's birthday, the plan that was celebrated rather than feared. The succession is the autumn story, and the story is the lesson: the founder who knows when to leave, the leadership that is planned, the legacy that is built to outlast the man.
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August 2, 2018
The First Trillion: Apple's Milestone
The milestone is the trillion, and the trillion is the number: the 1,000,000,000,000 dollars of market value that Apple crossed on August 2, the first American company to reach the mark, the round number that the market had chased for months. The milestone is the August 2018 story: the earnings that beat on July 31, the 53.3 billion dollars of revenue, the stock that rose past 207, the valuation that finally arrived. The first trillion is the summer story, and the story is the lesson: the ecosystem that compounds, the pricing power that protects the margin, the business model that the market now prices at a trillion, the line that was crossed in the middle of the trading day, the figure that no American company had ever reached before.
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July 19, 2018
The Record Fine: Google and Android
The fine is the record, and the record is the number: the 4.34 billion euros that the European Commission imposed on Google, the 5 billion dollars in round numbers, the penalty that was announced on July 18, the largest antitrust fine that the European Union has ever issued, the ruling that came after the three year investigation, the decision that was years in the writing. The fine is the July 2018 story: the Android system that runs on 80 percent of the world's smartphones, the practices that were investigated for three years, the ruling that found the abuse, the appeal that Google promised on the same day. The record fine is the summer story, and the story is the lesson: the platform that controls the distribution, the defaults that decide the winners, the power that the regulators are now measuring.
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June 21, 2018
The Tariff Opening: $50 Billion
The opening is the announcement, and the announcement is the tariffs: the 25 percent on 50 billion dollars of Chinese imports, the two lists that were published on June 15, the first tranche that takes effect on July 6, the escalation that the markets had feared. The opening is the June 2018 story: the trade war that began with the steel and the aluminum in March, the talks that stalled, the tariffs that were threatened and are now real, the retaliation that came from Beijing on the same day. The tariff opening is the summer story, and the story is the lesson: the supply chains that cross the Pacific, the costs that will be paid, the uncertainty that is now the operating environment, the Friday announcement that landed, the weekend that the importers spent on the fine print.
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May 25, 2018
GDPR: The Privacy Law That Changed Everything
The regulation is the change, and the change is the law: the General Data Protection Regulation that took effect on May 25, 2018, the rules that were years in the making, the privacy that became a legal right, the compliance that swept through every inbox in the world. The emails came in the weeks before: the updated privacy policies from the banks and the airlines and the apps, the notices that everyone skimmed, the terms that said we care about your data, the flood that marked the deadline. The GDPR is the May 2018 story, and the story is the lesson: the law that reaches across borders and changes how the world handles personal data.
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April 6, 2018
The Direct Listing: Spotify Goes Public
There is a debut that happened on the New York Stock Exchange this week, and the debut was the listing: Spotify arriving on April 3 under the ticker SPOT, no IPO, no underwriters, no new shares, the first major technology company to go public the direct way. The reference price was $132, the open came at $165.90, the close landed near $149.60, the valuation around $26.5 billion, the founder Daniel Ek watching from the floor. The company brought the numbers: the 159 million monthly active users, the 71 million subscribers, the music business that changed the industry, the debut that the market had waited for. The Spotify story is the April 2018 story, and the story is the lesson: the listing that broke the mold.
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