Richard Beales
ReutersBreakingviews
New York, NY, United States
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Past articles by Richard:
Elon Musk Twitter coinvestors will be rare birds – Breakingviews
The billionaire’s $44 bln bid for the social media group stretches his Tesla wealth. Lenders with claims on Twitter’s cash are handing him a quarter of the price. But managers of other people’s money, like buyout firms, will struggle to justify investing with the mercurial Musk. → Read More
Apple collects Big Tech quarterly earnings Oscar – Breakingviews
The $2.6 trln iPhone maker’s financial report for January to March showed it had a winning season compared to its Big Tech fellows. CEO Tim Cook’s business got less of a Covid boost than, say, Amazon, and had early supply-chain jams. Now it’s more than catching up. → Read More
Elon Musk can’t buy his other “censorship” foe – Breakingviews
The billionaire is set to buy Twitter, motivated by perceived restraints on free speech. But his legal quest to get the U.S. SEC off his back when it comes to vetting tweets about carmaker Tesla failed this week. The regulator won't roll over as easily as Twitter's board. → Read More
Steinway IPO plays old tunes with new chords – Breakingviews
Back in 2013, the piano maker sold itself to hedgie John Paulson for $512 million. Now it’s set to perform for public markets again. Quality and luxury remain main themes, but China and technology are modern harmonies. A valuation well above $1 billion wouldn’t be off-key. → Read More
JPMorgan rolls with early 2022 punches – Breakingviews
The giant lender took hits from a slump in financial-market activity and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reporting a 42% dive in quarterly profit. Wall Street peers are likely to sport similar bruises. But a strong U.S. economy and rising interest rates will soften the blows. → Read More
Be ready for a wave of embarrassing DMs – Breakingviews
Citigroup is pausing work on blank-check vehicles. The SEC is investigating block trades. And Elon Musk’s Twitter stake and appointment to the board are raising eyebrows. As in past moments of market turmoil, sloppy communications behind the scenes may later lead to red faces. → Read More
AIG life IPO marks 5,000 days of post-crisis slog – Breakingviews
That’s how long it took to fix the global insurer after its 2008 bailout. It has now reached a point where, with a little help from Blackstone and even BlackRock, it can float its life and retirement business, probably worth at least $22 bln. It’s a key moment in AIG’s reboot. → Read More
Venezuela gives Washington lesson in realpolitik – Breakingviews
The Latin American country’s oil could conveniently replace U.S. imports from Russia. But the regime of Nicolás Maduro has been under U.S. sanctions since 2017. Easing them would amount to accepting the lesser of two evils, with nearly 30 million Venezuelans as pawns. → Read More
CalPERS offends no one with new investment chief – Breakingviews
That’s tough on Nicole Musicco, appointed to run the retirement fund’s nearly $500 bln of assets after an 18-month search. But it reflects politics at the California giant, not her abilities. One goal should be to nudge CalPERS toward the pension model of Musicco’s native Canada. → Read More
MicroStrategy is storing up bitcoin bother – Breakingviews
The $4 billion company’s digital currency holdings now account for almost all of its enterprise value. CEO Michael Saylor may be happy running what increasingly looks more like a crypto vehicle than an analytics and software business. But he is inviting more regulatory scrutiny. → Read More
Investors need to get used to working harder – Breakingviews
America’s economy expanded at a 6.9% annual pace in the last quarter of 2021. A healthy rebound supports the Fed raising interest rates soon. But the U.S. central bank faces a balancing act, and everyone else following markets will have to be more alert than before, too. → Read More
SPAC deal hiccups are rarer than they ought to be – Breakingviews
EToro, an Israeli rival to retail trading platform Robinhood, just cut its worth by over 15% in a deal with a blank-check company. Stretched valuations suggest there should be more rejigs like this in SPAC world. But sponsors have powerful incentives to forge ahead regardless. → Read More
Jimmy Cayne fed myth of the Wall Street buccaneer – Breakingviews
The former Bear Stearns boss, who has died aged 87, is best known for leading his brokerage to near-collapse in 2008. The bridge-playing Cayne added a personal flavor to Bear’s fate. But the global financial crisis was a failure of entire systems, not a few individuals. → Read More
Pumped IPO market has slow puncture – Breakingviews
Listings on U.S. markets trashed prior records to raise over $300 billion in 2021, fueled by blank-check fever and tech newbies. Examined closely, it isn’t as bubbly as 1999-2000. But even ignoring SPAC indigestion, the performance of newly public shares points to a slowdown. → Read More
BMO’s U.S. bank deal is no slam dunk in Washington – Breakingviews
The $67 billion Canadian lender is buying Bank of the West from BNP Paribas. Combining banks smaller than America’s four giants makes sense, and the Fed approved three deals last week. But some Democrats in D.C. have merger phobia, and the regulatory regime is in flux. → Read More
SPAC sponsor giveaways keep IPOs coming – Breakingviews
New U.S. blank-check companies are still managing to raise cash, though not at the heady pace of early 2021. To keep the bandwagon rolling, investors are getting incentives like almost-free shares. The vehicles’ backers make so much money that they have plenty of room to share. → Read More
Canadian election achieves only Trudeau reprise – Breakingviews
The prime minister’s Liberals managed only about the same-sized minority as before the election he called two years earlier than needed in the hope of scoring a majority. That's a mark against his political credibility. But it means more of the same for Canada’s economy. → Read More
SPAC deal is private-stock trading coming of age – Breakingviews
Helping investors, employees and others trade shares of companies that haven’t yet gone public used to be a seriously gray area of finance. Now Forge, one of the players, is set to get its own listing in a $2 bln blank-check merger. With market maturity comes more competition. → Read More
Economic case for U.S. Afghanistan exit is clear – Breakingviews
The human effects are dire, and so could be the politics, but $2 trln sunk into a 20-year war is no reason to continue it. Looked at coldly, America’s ongoing investment wasn’t worth it and Joe Biden is just the CEO who finally took the tough decision. He may still regret it. → Read More
Airbnb returns to 2019 form, only leaner – Breakingviews
The $91 bln online vacation-booking platform has regained pre-pandemic levels of bookings and revenue as well as turning an adjusted EBITDA profit in the second quarter. The coronavirus remains a risk, but it’s also the reason Airbnb is now looking vigorous. → Read More