Sharing should be more caring in 2021. In one notable example of spreading the corporate wealth amid the Covid-19 crisis, Woolworths pared manager bonuses so that over 100,000 workers could have a little slice of equity in the Australian supermarket chain. If more companies followed suit in the coming year, it would create a lasting virus legacy.
President-elect Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping won’t warm frozen ties immediately in 2021. China-bashing has become a bipartisan sport in America. Xi has let nationalist trolls take over his diplomatic corps. But with delusions about the status quo stripped away, both sides can renegotiate their $600 billion trade relationship with some semblance of economic realism.
Fuggedaboutit. That’s what London and New York would love to do with Covid-19. It won’t be easy in the new year. But the two financial capitals should start to see urban buzz return.
Companies jostling for Covid-19 vaccines is a labor opportunity. Amazon.com, Uber Technologies and Cargill are among the U.S. firms lobbying for their workers to get priority access. They have a solid case for why their staff who can’t work remotely are essential. But that should come with responsibilities as well as privileges.
The pandemic has saddled companies in most of the world with debts. Big enterprises with reserves and access to capital now look like they can ride it out. Smaller outfits are at much greater risk of default.
Corona Capital is a daily column updated throughout the day by Breakingviews columnists around the world with short, sharp pandemic-related insights.
Ant and Beijing have begun a delicate, dangerous dance. Having forced the financial technology giant to suspend its initial public offering last month, officials have laid out demands that will curb the company’s ability to grow. While the government needs Ant to keeping supporting private firms, that’s scant comfort for investors.
Beijing has a golden window to revive its stalled yuan internationalisation process. A recovering economy and rallying renminbi clear the way for reformers to liberalise further, provided conservatives let them.
In soccer, sudden death occurs when the result comes down to a single penalty kick. Europe’s professional clubs face a similar nail-biting outcome as mostly empty seats leave them facing financial relegation. To return to health, the beautiful game will have to import an idea from American sports.
Boris Johnson’s “oven-ready” Brexit is almost cooked in time for Christmas. A year after the British prime minister won a landslide by promising to complete the country’s departure from the European Union – and just seven days before the end of the transition period – the two sides finalised a trade deal. Though the compromise avoids painful tariffs and a dangerous rupture in relations, it’s a much harder form of Brexit than Johnson and others envisaged during th
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