Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.Aston Martin has appointed Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark as its next chief executive, marking the third leadership change at the UK luxury carmaker in four years.Hallmark, who also previously worked at JLR, has overseen a turnaround at Bentley that has seen profits rise 10-fold in the past five years and the company sets a strategy to sell only electric models early in the next decade.Volkswagen-owned Bentley announced Hallmark's immediate departure on Friday. The company said he would leave “at his request and…
Author: ricardofrancois
The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Apple on Thursday, accusing the company led by CEO Tim Cook of engaging in anti-competitive business practices. The allegations include claims that Apple is blocking competitors from accessing certain iPhone features and that the company's actions are impacting the “stream of speech” through its streaming service Apple TV+. However, even if the Justice Department proves any of the allegations, Apple is unlikely to face fundamental changes for years, as history shows that such lawsuits often take a long time to reach trial, let alone reach a resolution. The Justice Department's ongoing…
Terry Fine | Getty ImagesDeclining fertility rates are expected to trigger a transformative demographic shift over the next 25 years, with major implications for the global economy, according to a new study.By 2050, three-quarters of countries are expected to fall below the population's replacement birth rate of 2.1 children per female, according to research published Wednesday in the Lancet medical journal.This would make 49 countries – primarily located in low-income regions of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia – responsible for the majority of new births.“Future trends in fertility rates and live births will propagate shifts in global population dynamics, leading to…
A view shows TikTok's office after the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill giving TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to divest the short-video app's US assets or face a ban, in Culver City, California, March. 13, 2024 Mike Blake | ReutersKevin O'Leary is assembling a group for a potential purchase of TikTok, with an offer starting at $20 billion to $30 billion — an as much as 90% cut in the company's valuation from the company's last funding round.Any deal for the short-form video-sharing platform — valued at $220 billion in 2023, according to PitchBook data…
When Stephanie Cohen joined Goldman Sachs straight out of college 25 years ago, even her fellow analysts could tell the fast-talking Chicago native was going to go further. She was full of energy, was “frighteningly intelligent” and thrived in the long hours that investment banking required.Frank but very funny, she joined the ranks of elite partners while still in her 30s. In 2020, she became the first woman in years to run a core operating division at the iconic Wall Street bank, which is often a crucial stepping stone to executive management.That record made Cohen's announcement this week that she…
The seemingly unstoppable power of the “Great Seven” means these are exciting times to be a passive investor. But as someone who uses her stocks and shares Isa primarily to invest in low-cost global tracker funds, the 'excitement' was not what I thought I was signing up for. The valuations of those seven tech-focused US giants — Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, Google parent Alphabet, Meta, and Tesla — have collectively risen nearly 20 percent year-to-date on hopes that AI will spur their future growth prospects. . Of these companies, Tesla has been the least impressive, down 30 percent year-to-date, but…
New York – Donald Trump's new joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee funnels donations to his campaign and the political action committee that pays the former president's legal bills before the Republican National Committee takes a cut, according to a fundraising call obtained by The Associated Press. The unconventional transfer of funds to the Save America PAC increases the likelihood that Republican donors will see their money going to Trump's lawyers, who have received at least $76 million over the past two years defending him against four criminal indictments and several civil cases. Some Republicans are already concerned…
Los Angeles city and county leaders launched a legal services program Thursday to help unhoused people resolve legal issues that may limit their access to housing and social services.The Community Outreach Court, the first of its kind in the city, aims to streamline the criminal court process for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness. It offers numerous legal assistance services, such as resolving outstanding fines, fees and misdemeanors, expunging convictions and clearing court orders, while connecting participants to other much-needed services and employment opportunities.The community outreach court, established six months ago as a pilot program, has helped about…
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, again urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Tesla, CEO Elon Musk, and the company's board of directors over what she called “potential misappropriation of Tesla resources and conflicts of interest arising from” Mr. Musk's dual role at Tesla and X. Renamed from Twitter.”Warren, who sits on the Senate Banking and Armed Services committees, sent a similar request to the Securities and Exchange Commission last July, and a letter to Tesla Chairman Robin Denholm expressing similar concerns in the past.In a six-page letter dated March 21, Warren informed the federal agency of…
A painting of the state of Arunachal Pradesh during the Republic Day parade along the Kartavia Path in New Delhi, India, on Friday, January 26, 2024. Republic Day in India marks the anniversary of the country's secular constitution coming into force in 1950. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe United States has rejected China's “unilateral attempts” to bolster its territorial claims, adding to the rift between New Delhi and Beijing after Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened a tunnel in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.This is the latest in an escalating dispute between neighboring India and China, which share a…