Articles

The events of the past week (beginning 25th of January), have challenged the role that retail traders in the global financial markets have traditionally played. The demographic has never had as much influence as it currently does, as it disrupts spaces previously dominated by large institutions such as hedge funds, Continue Reading

Matchmaking is a lucrative business. On January 15th 2021, Bumble — the women-centric dating app — filed for its initial public offering (IPO). This filing is set to be yet another successful listing in the booming US consumer tech-led IPO market. Despite Bumble’s niche user base and growing popularity within Continue Reading

As of the time of writing, the current valuation of GameStop stands at 8.94bn USD with a closing price on January 28th of $193.60 per common unit — this is after a one-day drop of 44%. It truly is a sign of the times when in a short few days Continue Reading

Around the world, sports organising bodies, teams, and leagues have been hugely impacted financially by the pandemic, suspended for a period of time and deprived of vital ticket revenues. In 2020, it’s estimated that the three big US sports leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB) lost $13bn in revenue, the English Premier Continue Reading

With the inauguration of the 46th US President on Wednesday January 20th, a new page turned for the US economy. Stocks opened higher on Wall Street ahead of the inauguration ceremony. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was up 1% shortly after the open, while the Dow Jones Index (^DJI) was up Continue Reading

On 23rd April 2020, the CMA, a government regulatory body charged with promoting domestic competition, announced their approval of the prospective £6.2 billion merger of Just Eat and Takeaway.com. Following the exit of Takeaway.com from the UK online food delivery market in 2016, the CMA concluded the firm would be unlikely to re-enter Continue Reading

A fortnight ago, I had the pleasure of speaking to Raja Palaniappan, CEO of Origin Markets. Origin Markets is one of the hottest fintech start-ups operating out of London, the fintech capital of the world. The hour spent with Raja provided a unique insight as to his inspiration behind the Continue Reading

With the start of 2021 ushering in a new era for Britain, having left the EU’s single market, the agreed trade deal continues to be debated and questioned. But with a deal on financial services to be negotiated separately in the coming months, there is uncertainty surrounding the sector which Continue Reading

On November 9th 2020, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced preliminary results of a medical study suggesting the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, with an efficacy of 90% in preventing COVID-19 in candidates facing exposure to the virus for the first time. The study comprised 43,538 participants, with those receiving the active Continue Reading

To cap off an extraordinary year for businesses worldwide, Salesforce has officially announced on the 1st of December, 2020 that it would be acquiring collaboration software developer Slack for $27.7 billion USD. This acquisition would go down as the second largest software transaction in history, the price of which represents Continue Reading

On 14th December 2020, AstraZeneca has agreed to acquire one of the biotech giants, Alexion, for $39 billion in cash and stock. The offer price was $175 per share with a 45% premium on top of its last trading price. AstraZeneca, the acquirer, is a red-hot global pharmaceutical company with its Continue Reading

On November 30 2020, financial data provider S&P Global decided to buy financial analytics company IHS Markit for $44bn. The deal will create a financial data and analytics giant, well-positioned to compete with Bloomberg — the current market-leader in the financial data provider space. The takeover follows a series of Continue Reading

Bitcoin hit an all-time high again. Of course, not before slumping shortly afterwards. It peaked at an intraday all-time high of $19,510, more than 300% above its low point in March earlier this year. It last attained such numbers in December 2017, a year which saw its value skyrocket nearly Continue Reading

Since President-elect Biden won the election at the start of this month, many have been left wondering about the consequences this will have for the environment. The US has by no means a good reputation in this sector, especially after four years of the Trump administration who were actively hostile Continue Reading

Online gaming platform Roblox filed to go public last week, joining a host of other technology companies looking to take advantage of the surging stock market conditions, particularly in recent weeks, with higher investor optimism being helped along by good news about virus vaccine trials. Roblox’s public debut will further Continue Reading

DoorDash, America’s biggest food-delivery company, is due to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “DASH” next month, aiming to be valued at more than $20bn in the IPO and begin trading in December. Its financial documents filed on November 13th reveal it booked orders worth Continue Reading

Over the last century or so, most Western economies have demonstrated distinctively cyclical behaviour. Known as the boom-bust cycle, the credit cycle or the economic cycle, the superposition of inflationary and deflationary oscillations over a reasonably linear increase in productivity growth, has defined the natural order of the financial markets Continue Reading

Earlier this week, the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced the government’s new 10-point plan towards a greener future; in which £12bn of government investment will be mobilised and up to 250,000 new jobs will be created. He wrote “This 10-point plan will turn the UK into the world’s number Continue Reading

Oil prices slumped to their lowest levels since May on October 29th, with Brent Crude oil prices falling below $37 per barrel. Renewed lockdowns in Europe and resultant falls in demand serve as a reminder for an industry, scarred by the freefall of oil prices in March and April, of Continue Reading

This month, Canada’s Intact Financial and Denmark’s Tryg made a joint bid to acquire RSA, a 300-year-old UK insurance firm, for £7.2bn. The deal follows a growing trend towards UK insurers being bought by overseas rivals; Finnish insurer Sampo and South Africa’s Rand Merchant acquired Hastings this year for £1.7bn. Continue Reading

Just a few weeks ago, we were expecting Ant Group to launch the biggest IPO in history with a value of $37bn. In a dramatic turn of events however, the Chinese government imposed a swathe of new regulations aimed at preventing the IPO from taking place just the night before. Continue Reading

Virtual healthcare provider Teladoc Health has acquired Livongo, a technology company which collects patient data to advise upon personal management of chronic illnesses, for $18.5bn, in one of the most prominent deals over the height of the global pandemic. Announced on August 5th, the deal was completed by the end Continue Reading

Chip-manufacturing giants Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd. (TSMC) and Qualcomm have both recently reported blowout earnings, raising their revenue forecasts following a year of record highs. Worldwide sales of semiconductors totalled $113.6bn during the third quarter of 2020, an increase of 11% over the previous quarter and 5.8% more than Continue Reading

Despite acquiring Reebok over a decade ago, Adidas are still struggling to make the gains from the brand it desired, leading to the consideration of a potential sale of the subsidiary. Shares of Adidas rose 1.9% on Thursday, due to multiple reports of the German footwear brand exploring the possibility Continue Reading