https://www.scmp.com/rss/323895/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Cathay Pacific faces an Asian air war of attrition between price versus value. It is the central issue that will decide its leadership or survival. The new competitive dynamics have sucked in all airlines whether they like it or not. Competitive advantage is increasingly based on the price of a ticket rather than the value of service. Which one do future passengers truly care about? Asian airline competition has become more intense and unrelenting. National and budget airlines are restructuring... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2136745/cathay-pacific-case-study-how-most-companies-fail-long-run-if?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2136745/cathay-pacific-case-study-how-most-companies-fail-long-run-if?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Mar 2018 12:54:11 +0000 In Hollywood’s and China’s reluctant on and off again relationship, the predominant problem is determining the substance of the relationship. What are Chinese firms actually buying and how is it actually valued? Perhaps the source of reluctance for Beijing regulators occurred when they read the notorious account of Sony’s troubled 1989 acquisition of Columbia – Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood, by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters. Guber presciently... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2134152/has-wanda-made-legendary-mistake-its-acquisition-hollywood-studio?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2134152/has-wanda-made-legendary-mistake-its-acquisition-hollywood-studio?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Feb 2018 23:30:45 +0000 Understanding what inspires or scares billionaires to build post-apocalyptic survival estates and retreats requires comprehension of what worries people at this level of wealth. It is no longer enough to protect their families from the usual security threats against rich people – robbery and kidnapping. Today, security includes end-of-days scenarios, whether or not you believe in the biblical or agnostic apocalypse. New Zealand has recently been highlighted as a beautiful retreat near the edge... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2133724/fatuous-folly-super-rich-and-their-plans-escape-apocalypse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2133724/fatuous-folly-super-rich-and-their-plans-escape-apocalypse?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Feb 2018 09:06:11 +0000 Easy come, easy go. That’s the only way to describe the end of easy returns selling low volatility for years after recent sharp market declines and high volatility. Selling volatility in a market that had been steadily rising was one of those sure things made easier by information and execution technology and exotic products such as leveraged and unleveraged exchange traded funds (ETFs). The popularity of alternative risk premium products has steadily grown in response to nine years of negative... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2132914/hidden-problems-and-greed-explain-why-these-etfs-mysteriously?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2132914/hidden-problems-and-greed-explain-why-these-etfs-mysteriously?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Feb 2018 10:02:57 +0000 Economic history turns in cruel cycles. A decades-old problem (familiar to many in Hong Kong) has finally peaked in Canada, as real estate critics and citizens who cannot afford to live in Vancouver are demanding every kind of restrictive policy against foreign buyers to control prices. But the emerging political and economic policies of the New Democratic Party-Green Party provincial government in British Columbia could actually worsen housing affordability and business development. While the... https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/2130885/vancouver-too-tough-doing-business-other-being-ideal-retirement?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/2130885/vancouver-too-tough-doing-business-other-being-ideal-retirement?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Jan 2018 03:59:14 +0000 Facts don’t change people’s minds, emotions do. And emotions are running high in Hong Kong among young people insecure about their future, especially where their careers are concerned. I meet many of them. A new year should bring more enlightened and positive attitudes. And unlike others, Hong Kong’s graduates in 2018 have to be set to navigate China’s confusing policies. The Chinese government’s official position contradicts itself speaking of the need for internationalisation by allowing... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2126283/hong-kongs-future-lies-hands-its-new-globally-networked?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2126283/hong-kongs-future-lies-hands-its-new-globally-networked?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Dec 2017 05:42:16 +0000 When Cortez, the Spanish conquistador, landed in what is now Mexico, he boldly decided to burn his ships. It was a grandiose, strategic decision – the only way to urge his men to live the spirit of adventure. Li & Fung’s announcement on December 14 represents a transformational milestone for one of the pillars of Hong Kong’s economy – trade and supply chain management. The Hong Kong-based global supplier to some of America’s biggest retailers announced the sale of its sweater, furniture and... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2125583/outdated-li-fung-must-invoke-cortez-burn-its-ships-march-forward?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2125583/outdated-li-fung-must-invoke-cortez-burn-its-ships-march-forward?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Dec 2017 01:00:30 +0000 The essence of smart business is being a crafty trader at the right time. Great deal makers know when to turn from buyer to seller, switching from offence to defence. Only Rupert Murdoch, the founder and patriarch, could have decisively executed News Corp’s sweeping US$66 billion deal with Disney. His decision is motivated by many factors, but it does say a lot about the pervasive and collective disintermediating influence in the media sector. Silicon Valley giants such as Amazon, Google,... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2124681/how-rupert-murdoch-solved-his-don-corleone-dilemma?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2124681/how-rupert-murdoch-solved-his-don-corleone-dilemma?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Dec 2017 01:01:19 +0000 As a journalist, I love to witness people being burned at the stake. The spectacle never gets boring. The theme that represents the “stake” and the type of heresy may change. But the cheering crowd never fails to congregate – especially on the internet. But like any witch hunt, the fervour and process grows to a point where anyone who questions any part of the entire process is seen as the enemy and cast into the well. If you sink you are innocent. If you float, you must be a witch and must be... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2123711/men-positions-authority-are-dire-need-rules-appropriate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2123711/men-positions-authority-are-dire-need-rules-appropriate?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Dec 2017 13:37:08 +0000 As a descendant of 19th century Chinese railroad builders in Canada, I understand Robert Kuok’s respect for the long-suffering men and women who migrated to far away lands where they were outsiders and blazed a path for future generations and helped build entire economies. His book, “Robert Kuok, A Memoir” is an absorbing journey, whether you recognise his assertions. As one of the world’s richest men Kuok’s revelations and relationships provide a high level insight into the past and future of... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2122669/how-establish-independent-government-institutions-confucian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2122669/how-establish-independent-government-institutions-confucian?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Dec 2017 12:11:16 +0000 Uber Technologies’ saga of tribulations and violations continues to sprawl despite the former CEO, Travis Kalanick stepping back. The new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is fighting a rearguard action while new problems surface. It is a sign of deeper problems with the structure of over valued, private tech companies that should have been pushed into a public listing earlier. Unethical management behaviour ranging from sexual harassment to ignoring service failures have caused them to be banned from... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2121630/uber-waited-too-long-ipo-and-now-it-faces-difficult-sell?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2121630/uber-waited-too-long-ipo-and-now-it-faces-difficult-sell?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Nov 2017 10:59:42 +0000 When lofty aspirations meet the real world of competing sovereign interests the reality is that being a global superpower requires a delicate weaving of soft versus hard power with influence and dominance at multiple levels comprising military, political, economic and technological. And a few recent cracks in the plans for hegemony highlight the complicated road to infrastructure based influence faced by China. Last week, according to an SCMP report, the government of Nepal appears to have... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2120597/nepal-and-pakistan-pulling-plug-belt-and-road-plans-casts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2120597/nepal-and-pakistan-pulling-plug-belt-and-road-plans-casts?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Nov 2017 22:45:30 +0000 “We [the rich] don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes,” said Leona Helmsley, a notorious New York heiress who was sentenced for 16 years for federal income tax evasion in 1989. That explains why rich people wish and possess the means to avoid taxes (legally or illegally) using offshore jurisdictions and havens. But, revealing the tax plans of the global oligarchy doesn’t fully explain the significance of the “Paradise Papers.” The Paradise Papers represents 13.4 million files at 1.4... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2119536/hong-kong-should-rebrand-itself-low-tax-haven?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2119536/hong-kong-should-rebrand-itself-low-tax-haven?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Nov 2017 10:51:14 +0000 “Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible, ” said Frank Zappa. The American rock activist’s work was characterised by nonconformity and free-form improvisation. His thought can just as easily apply to the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s contrarian, ambitious and some suggest authoritarian vision that he laid out at the Communist Party’s 19th congress last week. But, it is only contrarian to foreign observers. “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” necessarily means a pragmatic... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2116492/xis-congress-speech-offered-few-clear-signs-and-clues?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2116492/xis-congress-speech-offered-few-clear-signs-and-clues?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Oct 2017 01:03:44 +0000 Hong Kong’s recent budget creates its own unconventional version of Freakonomics: the morality of how bureaucrats imagine the city works versus the economics of how it actually works. Despite pumped up welfare and social spending, the government’s failure to address structural economic and marketplace reform will only mean that the quality of living and competitiveness standards will only worsen. The government can easily spend more billions when it has control over reserves that are almost a... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2115453/hong-kongs-budget-wont-fix-core-problems-dominant-cartels-and-lack?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2115453/hong-kongs-budget-wont-fix-core-problems-dominant-cartels-and-lack?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Oct 2017 12:15:15 +0000 The last time I met Harvey Weinstein was in 2008 at the Captain’s Bar at the Mandarin Oriental hotel through a friend of mine who was a film financier. Weinstein suddenly decided to step up onto the stage, ask the singer for the microphone, and proceeded to launch into his version of Frank Sinatra’s My Way. Brash and bellicose - a man with boundless confidence. But, he is in trouble today because he did it his way for too long. The media and Hollywood are writhing in an apoplectic fit as it... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2115131/dont-write-weinsteins-comeback-because-hollywood-works-cold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2115131/dont-write-weinsteins-comeback-because-hollywood-works-cold?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Oct 2017 11:30:30 +0000 Not since Bette Midler made her first entrance in Hello Dolly has an audience erupted as it did when A-list Hong Kong actor Nicholas Tse Ting-fung, channelling his best imitation of Steve Jobs, strutted the stage last week at an Our Hong Kong Foundation event to announce his new role to guide young people towards fulfilling their tech start-up dreams. When celebrities like Nicholas Tse wade into the technology and start-up scene as “feel good” messiahs, they trivialise and bypass a discussion of... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2113589/hong-kongs-start-ups-dont-need-showbiz-and-celebrities-they-need-dose?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2113589/hong-kongs-start-ups-dont-need-showbiz-and-celebrities-they-need-dose?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Oct 2017 14:24:28 +0000 We all fully appreciate the political and geopolitical implications of today’s global interconnectedness provided by the internet, and recently in Hong Kong one issue gained extra attention around the world, which illustrates just how powerful this can play out – the appearance of pro-independence banners and posters at some Hong Kong educational institutions. Depending on how it is resolved – if ever – the conflict could be viewed by some, as a sensitive matter highlighting a crucial part of... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2112639/student-banners-are-merely-result-hong-kong-genuinely-moving?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/2112639/student-banners-are-merely-result-hong-kong-genuinely-moving?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Sep 2017 13:45:45 +0000 A leader fights corruption with the legal system he has, not the one he wishes he has. The ongoing fight against the extent of financial corruption in both China and the US poses particular challenges that are unique to both systems. In late 2012, China’s President Xi Jinping launched a “war on corruption.” The campaign promised to purge the country and the Communist Party of chronic corruption problems by targeting both “tigers and flies”. The campaign reportedly has punished at least 140... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2111558/financial-corruption-china-us-are-two-sides-same-coin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2111558/financial-corruption-china-us-are-two-sides-same-coin?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Sep 2017 09:25:45 +0000 Hong Kong’s middle class has been economically transformed from the “sandwich class” into the “coffin class.” Those looking for property salvation through a big crash, due to a rise in interest rates, can kiss their impossible dream goodbye. Analysts failed to factored in how property developers – all acting in their own interests in a poorly regulated local market – would merely shrink the size of flats and extend the price run in rentals and sales. Branding flats smaller than prison cells or... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2106626/hong-kongs-developers-see-ever-shrinking-flats-elixir-citys?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2106626/hong-kongs-developers-see-ever-shrinking-flats-elixir-citys?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Aug 2017 00:46:40 +0000 The decision by the HKEX to hold a reform consultation at the height of the worst stock market regulation crisis in Hong Kong since the exchange was suspended during the 1987 crash may be remembered as an act of spectacular folly. A mysterious stock price crash last Tuesday and Wednesday erased US$6 billion in capitalisation with the hardest hit stock down 94 per cent. A total of 13 stocks closed at least 50 per cent lower on Tuesday with that amount of value lost in less than an hour. The... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2100929/heres-why-hong-kongs-new-startup-board-casino-wild-east?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2100929/heres-why-hong-kongs-new-startup-board-casino-wild-east?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Jul 2017 08:13:30 +0000 Watching the Singapore prime minister’s family squabbles surface on social media, I’m reminded of the lonely figure of Henry Pu Yi in Reginald Johnston book Twilight in the Forbidden City, and portrayed in Bernardo Bertolucci’s movie The Last Emperor. Like Pu Yi, the premier seems increasingly detached from geopolitical and technological challenges. The family squabble captivating Singapore’s attention has the potential of morphing into a string of sensational revelations that erode Lee Hsien... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2098867/twilight-lion-city-social-media-renders-singapores-dynastic-rule-asunder?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2098867/twilight-lion-city-social-media-renders-singapores-dynastic-rule-asunder?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Jun 2017 11:15:00 +0000 Intellectually indolent and thoroughly compromised, the Hong Kong government demonstrated to the world how enfeebled its bureaucrats have become in the face of overpowering entrenched cartels. Last week, Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said Uber must change its business model and run like existing taxi companies for a chance to be legalised. “Some companies are just not willing to be regulated under established mechanism,” he said, referring to Uber. “They hope they... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2097843/uber-airbnb-show-hong-kongs-inability-adapt-changing-times-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2097843/uber-airbnb-show-hong-kongs-inability-adapt-changing-times-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Jun 2017 09:40:40 +0000 The history of besieged regimes is ultimately a tale of arrogance and blindness to the ruler’s shortcomings, of wilful ignorance from uncomfortable realities. The June 1989 protest in Tiananmen and its subsequent suppression represented an unavoidable collision point for China. Its consequences can be felt today in its social, technological and economic development. China’s post-Tiananmen policies and the world’s reaction determined if an authoritarian regime would display more signs of... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2096804/hong-kong-remains-stranded-wake-mainland-chinas-post?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2096804/hong-kong-remains-stranded-wake-mainland-chinas-post?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Jun 2017 03:57:10 +0000 The taxi driver whipped out a tired-looking placard and reminded me of yet another regular increase in local taxi fares. I paid cash, without complaining, for another uncomfortable ride in a dilapidated taxi that does not take credit, debit or stored-value cards and devices – in the 21st century. It was like an existential scene out of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, where the loser-hero cannot understand the senselessness of the situation. My fellow columnists at the South China Morning Post... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2095977/hong-kongs-uber-arrests-show-citys-talk-innovation-cowers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2095977/hong-kongs-uber-arrests-show-citys-talk-innovation-cowers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 May 2017 04:09:50 +0000 After a week of self-congratulatory praise, China’s concept of the new Silk Road has acquired the status of prophecy. All the guarded circumlocution and visionary pronouncements now fade away and reveal the real question: exactly what does Hong Kong get for pledging membership and for the HK$1.2 billion, 0.7 per cent stake in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank? Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po welcomed the decision in March. He said Hong Kong’s participation in the bank could... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2095106/opinion-hong-kong-ideal-location-silk-road-banks-treasury?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2095106/opinion-hong-kong-ideal-location-silk-road-banks-treasury?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 May 2017 07:45:21 +0000 Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee penned an excoriating opinion column in the South China Morning Post earlier this month declaring that Hong Kong is a “city in decline”. She said it might be too late to reverse Hong Kong’s inability to reinvent or evolve its economy. Besides the malignant discordance of public discourse, which can occur in any civil society, she pointed out that Hong Kong’s misinterpretation and fixation on 50 years of “no change” in its political order and system of governance created an... https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2094264/opinion-hong-kongs-tech-companies-need-local-status-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/2094264/opinion-hong-kongs-tech-companies-need-local-status-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 May 2017 05:54:14 +0000 Canada used to be the land of frontier pioneers forged by brave immigrants like my forefathers four generations ago – all self-sufficient and self-sacrificing in the pursuit of a better life. Today, the country’s self-entitlement is the ruling principle. No city demonstrates this more than Vancouver, where relaxed attitudes towards drug addiction and usage are translating themselves into risky economic policies and unpredictable outcomes. Already in the grip of a chronic homelessness crisis,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2093321/gentrification-may-be-answer-vancouvers-drugs-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2093321/gentrification-may-be-answer-vancouvers-drugs-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 May 2017 22:18:21 +0000 Athenian statesman Themistocles said: “I cannot fiddle, but I can make a small town into a great state.” The Hong Kong of the ’80s and ’90s held out that hope of becoming a great global city state of business, but today it is dragged down by internecine and nonsensical political strife. Despite victories on the constitutional and judicial fronts over separatists and independence agitators, Wang Zhenmin, legal chief of the central government’s liaison office, said the “one country, two systems”... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2091885/opinion-chinas-bewildering-focus-fringe-group-spooks-hong-kong-deters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2091885/opinion-chinas-bewildering-focus-fringe-group-spooks-hong-kong-deters?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 May 2017 00:00:54 +0000 It is said that the rich man thinks only about money. But, in truth it is the poor man who can think of nothing else. In “Asia’s (most expensive) world city”, you would be surprised who considers themselves to be poor. You can’t measure or hide behind anecdotal evidence showing the deteriorating quality of Hong Kong’s basket of economic goods that constitute quality of life. If well paid locals and expatriates who work directly or indirectly in financial services are relocating because they... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2089932/hong-kongs-rip-even-if-youre-rich?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2089932/hong-kongs-rip-even-if-youre-rich?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Apr 2017 23:30:15 +0000 Controlling some medium or platform for communication is an important part of China’s soft power. Telling China’s story as a rising superpower to the world is a key part of its foreign policy. But it is not as simple as owning a Hollywood studio. Rapidly shifting technology and tastes are reversing the roles of determining the content and message. Joseph Goebbels, the reich minister of propaganda for Nazi Germany, once said that “future generations may conclude that the radio had as great an... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2086163/does-chinas-buying-spree-hollywood-studios-project-soft-power-not?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2086163/does-chinas-buying-spree-hollywood-studios-project-soft-power-not?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Apr 2017 07:23:52 +0000 Cathay Pacific Airways has lost its glamorous and exclusive image because it is no longer a glamorous and exclusive business. “Arrive in better shape” was their old slogan. Today, it means “Lost in transit.” Their business model is irrevocably flawed in a changing world. An unexpected announcement of a HK$575 million loss last year and a reversal of a HK$6 billion profit in the previous year suggests there is no turnaround on the horizon. Aviation fuel accounted for nearly 30 per cent of total... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2082259/cathay-pacific-flawed-business-model-changing-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2082259/cathay-pacific-flawed-business-model-changing-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Mar 2017 12:30:15 +0000 A year and a half ago, when Donald Trump descended from his golden escalator into the gold-leafed lobby of Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for president, a reporter asked him if he was capable of dealing with China. “Sure,” he answered, “last week I sold a $15 million condominium to someone from China.” President Trump is going to need to marshal his best condo selling talent for his summit with China’s President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in April. Diplomats are still struggling to finalise... https://www.scmp.com/directories/article/2080286/trump-going-need-his-best-condo-selling-talent-april-summit-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/directories/article/2080286/trump-going-need-his-best-condo-selling-talent-april-summit-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Mar 2017 11:00:45 +0000 When Kellyanne Conway, current counsellor to the President of the US, joined the Trump campaign last year she remarked to the candidate Donald Trump “that he should be polling stronger because he was running against a joyless candidate.” In Hong Kong’s race for Chief Executive, we are confronted with joyless candidates, joyless policies and a joyless election. A long suffering and forgotten section of the population yearns for solutions, with or without democratic elections. Yet only the... https://www.scmp.com/business/money/article/2078219/how-should-hong-kong-drain-swamp?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/money/article/2078219/how-should-hong-kong-drain-swamp?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Mar 2017 23:45:26 +0000 Anyone over the age of 35 years has difficulty understanding the success of Snapchat’s business and initial public offering (IPO). Shares of Snap opened last week at US$24, above the IPO price of US$17. The opening price valued the parent of the popular disappearing message app at more than US$33 billion. Snap is the largest US-listed tech IPO since Alibaba in 2014, based on amount raised and market capitalisation. It’s a fantastic story. At one stroke, a loss making company selling disappearing... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2076193/nude-pics-us33b-valuation-how-snap-legitimised-porn-and-took?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2076193/nude-pics-us33b-valuation-how-snap-legitimised-porn-and-took?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Mar 2017 07:15:15 +0000 Something is taking shape today in the world of financial technology, if we connect the dots. After talking to technologists involved in prominent financial technology startups and platforms, a stark realisation has set in on the limits of what fintech can actually accomplish. Indeed, I’m seeing some technologists starting to resign in a trend signifying frustration with the industry. What started as a venture capital-driven, primal scream against the perceived backwardness of traditional banks... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2074178/day-reckoning-nigh-fintech-startups?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2074178/day-reckoning-nigh-fintech-startups?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Feb 2017 11:45:45 +0000 Facebook is confronting the reality that it’s a media company. Mark Zuckerberg recently released a 5,700 word globalist political manifesto that is utter nonsense - a series of political platitudes trying to be soaring rhetoric. Zuckerberg has not lived in the real world for a long time. “History is the story of how we’ve learned to come together in even greater numbers - from tribes to cities to nations,” he wrote. This is the world according to Facebook. The history of the world is the story... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2072161/zuckerbergs-dystopian-vision-silicon-valley-echo-chamber?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2072161/zuckerbergs-dystopian-vision-silicon-valley-echo-chamber?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Feb 2017 10:39:13 +0000 For such a large tech offering, the Snap Inc IPO, on the New York Stock Exchange, is quickly looking pretty toxic. Ignore that the owner of the popular messaging service Snapchat is only just making a 7 per cent gross margin whereas in previous IPOs like Facebook or even Twitter were making 50 per cent or more. Toss in the warning from the filing that Snap may never reach profitability, the usual amount infrastructure to be built, no voting rights and a high expense and the IPO begs... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2068242/snaps-offering-represents-disastrous-corporate-governance-milestone?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2068242/snaps-offering-represents-disastrous-corporate-governance-milestone?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Feb 2017 12:00:00 +0000 Just because you are a social media tycoon doesn’t mean you can lead a social movement. Seduced and convinced by their own polished public relations, Silicon Valley heavyweights are wading into politics in a way that could unpredictably ricochet public opinion against them. I miss the days when Silicon Valley tech billionaires of the 80s and 90s like Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Paul Allen confined their competition and fascination to building expansive yachts, collecting splendid islands and... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2066364/social-media-tycoons-should-stick-tech-and-stay-out-politics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2066364/social-media-tycoons-should-stick-tech-and-stay-out-politics?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Jan 2017 12:44:35 +0000 Comparing the World Economic Forum at Davos and President Donald Trump’s inaugural speech last week is like a rare observation of two parallel universes colliding. One is a gathering of the world’s economic, banking and technology elite. The other was a speech wrapped in doses of hyperbole- a pugilistic, nationalistic call to arms against the elite that painted an unbearable American dystopia. At Davos, the talk of artificial intelligence was dominated not by business benefits and lucrative... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2064377/prepare-robotics-ai-worsen-backlash-globalisation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2064377/prepare-robotics-ai-worsen-backlash-globalisation?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Jan 2017 09:31:10 +0000 I was challenged recently to apply the pop culture economics of “Freakonomics”– the rogue side of economics popularised by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. It’s not easy to joke about economic models based on rational utility maximisation, but I tried by linking similar woes that confront both Hong Kong and the US. Chinese people aren’t fans of irony, but nothing is more hilarious than comparing how China is unwinding Marxism and interpreting capitalism at its own end-of-history pace,... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2062322/just-how-apply-pop-culture-freakonomics-use-chinas-transition-example?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2062322/just-how-apply-pop-culture-freakonomics-use-chinas-transition-example?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Jan 2017 08:00:00 +0000 When the Hong Kong government announces another technology park, it is time to break out in a sceptical and apoplectic fit. The Hong Kong and Shenzhen governments intend to jointly develop an innovation and technology park at Lok Ma Chau Loop. The 87 hectare “Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park”, with a site area four times of the existing Hong Kong Science Park, is supposed to be the largest innovation and technology platform ever set up in Hong Kong. You can always depend on a... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2060351/lok-ma-chau-loop-cyberport-fiasco-all-over-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2060351/lok-ma-chau-loop-cyberport-fiasco-all-over-again?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Jan 2017 11:55:55 +0000 My mainland Chinese friends tell me that the number one characteristic that they loathe in Hong Kong Chinese is their complete lack of empathy for the world outside of Hong Kong. The serial inability of government and business leaders to make decisive policy changes to arrest a downward spiralling economy is a laughable contrast to how Hong Kong Chinese used to condescend towards mainlanders’ own shortcomings only 20 years ago. They see that in its self-absorption and parochialism Hong Kong’s... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2058516/hong-kong-elite-fails-grasp-extent-public-anger-over-citys-decline?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2058516/hong-kong-elite-fails-grasp-extent-public-anger-over-citys-decline?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Jan 2017 05:50:30 +0000 In Hong Kong, watching where the money flows gives you an idea of the past and future for the year ahead. This city has always been about following the cash and buying and selling into trends - no matter how irrational. Hong Kong’s strange financial dilemma is that despite easily having enough billionaires to fund a manned expedition to Mars, there is little to no interest in funding start-ups or new ideas. The amount of start-up money is paltry given the amount of wealth in this town. One... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2057171/why-hong-kong-start-ups-find-it-hard-raise-funds?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2057171/why-hong-kong-start-ups-find-it-hard-raise-funds?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Dec 2016 14:33:42 +0000 I believe in coincidences. It’s just that I’ve never seen one before. Seizure of Singapore’s security vehicles and the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s investigation into the DBS office in Hong Kong seem strangely well timed for maximum effect. It’s bad for business as Hong Kong’s historical role as a free port has become weaponised for political motives. Then, HKMA’s tepid response to arrests at DBS was a statement saying: “We will follow up with the relevant bank.” The ICAC’s... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2053679/weaponising-hong-kongs-free-port-status?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2053679/weaponising-hong-kongs-free-port-status?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Dec 2016 08:30:30 +0000 Hiring well connected Chinese princelings to win lucrative deals has never been a revelation in Hong Kong. But when JPMorgan agreed to pay a US$264 million fine to resolve criminal and civil matters relating to its “Sons and Daughters” recruitment programme, its sheer size warrants a second look. The cost of doing business in China just went up. The US Security and Exchange Commission’s 26 page summary of JPMorgan’s Sons and Daughters programme, which started in 2006, reads like a satire of Game... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2049559/jpmorgans-sons-and-daughters-fine-wont-stop-wall-streets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/2049559/jpmorgans-sons-and-daughters-fine-wont-stop-wall-streets?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Nov 2016 05:53:17 +0000 I am reluctant to give career advice to young people. I am afraid I will sound like the old guy in the film ‘The Graduate’ who tells a sceptical Dustin Hoffman that, “There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it.” But when I was asked by a group of them, I emphasised that whatever you choose to do after graduating in Hong Kong, you need to look beyond the local economy and if possible seize career and education opportunities based on changes in geopolitics and global... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2047689/one-belt-one-road-presents-golden-opportunities-hong-kong-graduates?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2047689/one-belt-one-road-presents-golden-opportunities-hong-kong-graduates?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Nov 2016 06:41:17 +0000 Real life is full of paradox, indecision and error, punctuated by rare moments of decisiveness and coherence. Any constitution document, or the Basic Law as we call it here, that cannot survive the actions of nihilistic fools and the outrage of aggrieved patriotism is truly not worth anything. That is what the localists have shown us. Our institutions are made of flimsy cork board, easily punctured when they are no longer useful. The Basic Law is like a store display in Central – it can be... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2045545/dont-overestimate-hong-kongs-importance-beijings-legislative-and-governing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2045545/dont-overestimate-hong-kongs-importance-beijings-legislative-and-governing?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Nov 2016 06:15:15 +0000 Brexit taught me not to pretend that anyone can predict how a Trump or Clinton victory would impact the markets. Although a Trump victory would be improbable and unpredictable it more importantly represents an enormous impact. Voter frustration finally finds a revolutionary symbol for the current problems plaguing the US economy. And, Hong Kong could see a mirror reflection of its own problems. Stagnant income for average workers persist despite strong productivity increases; job creation is... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2043436/donald-trumps-rise-explained-need-economic-revolution?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2043436/donald-trumps-rise-explained-need-economic-revolution?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Nov 2016 10:19:15 +0000 “Cocaine. It’s a hell of a drug,” said Rick James. Cocaine and investment banking have been best friends since the 1980s when Wall Street’s rise in popular culture and London’s Big Bang created wealth and the envy of having/not having wealth. The Hong Kong murder trial of Rurik Jutting, a former vice president of structured equity, finance and trading at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) revealed harrowing scenes that would have been taken straight out of the film American Psycho. The only... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2041361/why-bankers-and-cocaine-are-best-friends?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/2041361/why-bankers-and-cocaine-are-best-friends?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Oct 2016 07:11:03 +0000