US regulators have not yet shown all their cards, but they should pause before arguing that too big equals anticompetitive, or seeking to break up or substantially restructure the tech giants. Instead, they might want to look to Europe.
Read moreThe US and China Want a Divorce, but Neither Can Afford One
Three months into the global coronavirus pandemic, there are growing signs that the long marriage between China and the US—indeed between China and the developed world—is coming apart. That’s prompted “a rethink of how much any country wants to be reliant on any other country,”
Read moreThe Coronavirus May Actually Reinforce US-China Economic Ties
In these self-isolated days, silver linings are almost entirely obscured by clouds. Yet should the worst-case predictions of mass deaths and overwhelmed health care systems not come to pass, there’s a case to be made that the way the virus is spreading… China’s industrial production fell for the first time on record
Read moreBest Buy Bucks the Trend That’s Crushing Other Retailers
Far from facing extinction, Best Buy is poised for another year of solid growth. Its relative success stands in sharp contrast to the fate of retail in general, and its formula should serve as a reminder that retailing may be changing, but not everything will be ecommerce.
Read moreStumbles at Uber and WeWork Don't Mean the End of Tech
After a long drought, the go-go days of hot technology IPOs appear to be back. The new age began last week with the long-awaited public offering of shares in ride-hailing service Lyft, which raised more than $2 billion for the company with a valuation climbing to over $26 billion before falling back to earth on Monday. To put that in perspective, Lyft’s valuation after the IPO rivaled those of Snapchat, Dropbox, and Spotify; it’s larger than all of this year’s IPOs combined.
Read moreListen, Here’s Why the Value of China’s Yuan Really Matters
The China-US trade conflict is taking a more severe turn. President Trump announced a 10 percent tariff on an additional $300 billion of Chinese imports; the Chinese government responded by allowing its currency, the yuan, to fall to more than 7 to the dollar—the lowest in a decade. The US government then formally labeled China a “currency manipulator,” which carries no formal penalty but sets in motion a process that might lead to sanctions by the International Monetary Fund.
Read moreBig Tech Can Stay Ahead of Regulators by Breaking Itself Up
Rumblings about the role of Big Tech in American society have coalesced into a storm long coming, with revelations that the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are contemplating sweeping antitrust investigations of Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple.
Read moreIf China Really Wants to Retaliate, It Will Target Apple
Apple has a Huawei problem. Of the myriad issues raised by the evolving and intensifying US-China trade Cold War, the knock-on effects on Apple have been perhaps least appreciated. And not just Apple, of course, but a slew of American companies that have both shifted production to China over the past two decades and, more vitally, tapped into Chinese middle-class consumers as a source of growth and profits.
Read moreThe Last Place Big Tech Wants to Be Is on the Defense
So, it finally happened. A leading American politician has said aloud what many have been whispering: It’s time to break up Big Tech. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren just fired the opening salvo and called for the federal government to take action: “Today’s big tech companies have too much power— too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy.”
Read moreNew York and Amazon Played a Zero-Sum Game -- and Everyone Lost
The brief, contentious engagement of Amazon and New York City ended abruptly this week, with Amazon deciding that its choice of New York as a site for a new headquarters was not right after all, and that what the company had wanted wasn’t in the cards.
Read moreThe Green New Deal is Just the Vague, Audacious Goal We Need
The unveiling of a Green New Deal last week provoked a mix of enthusiasm and derision. For each voice embracing the radical vision to decarbonize the American economy within a decade, there was another voice decrying the plan as economically unrealistic, technologically impossible, and politically untenable.
Read moreWhy Taxing the Rich May Not Save Democracy
The government shutdown dominated the news these past weeks, but far more consequential were proposals floated by newly minted presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren and freshman representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to significantly raise taxes on the very rich.
Read moreWhy Are We So Surprised by Facebook's Data Scandals?
Surveying the reactions to the latest revelation that Facebook played fast and loose with user data, it was hard not to harken back to what Scott McNally, the founding CEO of Sun Microsystems, told a group of reporters, including one from WIRED, in 1999: “You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.”
Read moreWhat the Stock Selloff Tells us About the Future of Tech
The past three months have not been kind to large public technology companies. Amid crescendos of criticism about monopolistic power, these companies saw their market value plummet. The rampant selling has leveled off, at least for the moment, so it’s an opportune time to ask: What comes next?
Apple is Ditching the Mass Market and Focusing on Rich People
The Case Against Elon Musk Will Chill Innovation
ELON MUSK HAS long established himself as a both a visionary CEO and a lightning rod for attention, good and bad. The bad reared its head dramatically this week as the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Musk with securities fraud for misleading investors with August tweets about taking Tesla private.
Read moreAt $1 Trillion, Amazon Should Fear Regulations More Than Rivals
Amazon briefly touched $1 trillion in market capitalization on Tuesday, barely a month after Apple topped $1 trillion. The companies share the letter A and 12 zeros, but the similarity largely ends there.
Read moreSo Apple is Worth $1 Trillion. Now Comes the Hard Part.
So it finally happened. Apple announced stellar quarterly earnings; investors liked them; the stock rose; and Apple became the first US company to surpass $1 trillion in market value. In our love for big numbers, that made it a big story.
Read moreTrump's Trade War Won't Hurt China, But it Could Hurt Tech in the U.S.
In the latest installment of the simmering trade war, the Trump administration reportedly plans to impose restrictions on Chinese investments in US technology companies and American technology exports to China. If implemented as rumored, any company with more than 25 percent Chinese ownership
Read moreWhy the US-China "Trade War" Remains a War of Words
So, about that trade war. Recent days have presented a dizzying series of reversals followed by reversals of reversals over whether, when, or if the United States will impose punitive tariffs on China in response to unresolved issues, ranging from intellectual property theft to lack of access
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