BizNews Global Investing

Google Avoids Fine With EU Antitrust Deal

6th February 20145th February 2014

From Reuters: * Deal follows more than 3-year investigation * Google proposal valid in Europe for 5 years * EU Commission will not seek feedback from critics * EU to decide in coming weeks whether to open Android enquiry Google agreed to make concessions on how it displays competitors’ links on its website on Wednesday, in a deal with the European Union regulator that ended a … Read more

Mugabe’s plan to revive Zim: diaspora bonds, Chinese-style special economic zones, SA funds

6th February 20145th February 2014

President Robert Mugabe’s got a thick skin. After years of poor economic decisions – ranging from land grabs to indigenous control of local companies– he is optimistic many in the world will trust him with their money. He is particularly eager for his friends like South Africa, China and Russia to stump up. And, he thinks … Read more

Goldman Sachs bets on Russia’s rising middle class in bite-size chunks

6th February 20143rd February 2014

All the attention on Russia’s delivery of the Winter Olympics 2014 in Sochi has helped to focus minds on the country in general. Spotting an opportunity to make money out of Russia’s burgeoning middle class through a chain of upmarket fitness clubs is multi-national investment banking group Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS). Goldman’s Special Situations Group, which … Read more

South African rand and Turkish lira: the Delicate Duo of emerging market currencies

6th February 201422nd January 2014

If you’re a South African on holiday or networking with business movers-and-shakers in the UK or Europe, it’s not fun converting what you are spending back into rands. On the other hand, tourists who fancy a game-watching holiday or spending time on a pristine beach, must be rubbing their hands in glee when contemplating their … Read more

China policy changes: appetite for imports set to wane in 2014, warn analysts.

6th February 201410th January 2014

There used to be a commonly repeated saying to reflect the importance of the world’s largest economy that went something like this: when the US sneezes, the whole world catches a cold. The same can be said these days of China. With many countries dependent on China’s appetite for resources needed to manufacture goods and … Read more

Who would invest in Greece? We would – SA stock exchange investor

6th February 20148th January 2014

One way of hunting for shares that are likely to outperform the stock market averages is to look for companies with high barriers to entry. These are organisations that have a monopoly in a market because the high costs of setting up and running such a business are beyond the reach of most. Or, perhaps … Read more

Average salary: R400pm. Seven year old VW Polo: R260 000. That’s Cuba.

6th February 20144th January 2014

Cuba remains a gift to economic theorists. A living monument to the folly of a closed economic system built on the socialist fallacy that the State knows best. With a regulated average wage of under $40 a month, Cubans no possess no financial incentive to produce anything more than the minimum. So the country is … Read more

Apple keeps CEO’s pay unchanged at R43m – but don’t forget that R5bn in options in 2011

6th February 201428th December 2013

From the SA Press Association: Apple CEO Tim Cook was paid $4.25m (R43m) in 2013, the company reported Friday in a regulatory filing. The compensation was more or less the same as the $4.2m Cook earned in 2012. But it represented a dramatic drop from the $510m (R5.2bn) worth of stock options that Cook was … Read more

Apple ties up with China Mobile, potential to boost iPhone sales by over 25%

6th February 201423rd December 2013

Tim Cook has achieved something his company’s founder Steve Jobs couldn’t get right. The company has tied up a deal with China Mobile which with 740m subscribers is comfortably the biggest cell phone business on earth. The new relationship has the potential to add more than 25% to Apple’s iPhone sales. It sells around 34m … Read more

Will 2014 be a disaster for the “Fragile Five” emerging markets, including SA?

6th February 20144th December 2013

There is a lot of pessimism in the air around emerging markets (EMs). With Fed tapering widely anticipated to begin early next year, observers worry that EMs will take a big hit as the flow of easy money dries up. Further, there are worries about deeper structural problems in EMs. In particular, observers are worried … Read more