🔒 Flash Briefing: N26; DRC dealmaking; Bezos divorce muddles Amazon; Maduro starts six more years

By Alec Hogg

In today’s global headlines:

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• Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro is to be sworn in for a fresh six-year term this morning following his victory in an election last May. The vote was declared to be a fraud by the opposition, the US and the EU, but not Maduro’s allies and biggest debtors, Russia and China. Under the hard-left policies of Maduro’s socialists the size of the economy has halved and hyper-inflation taken a tight grip. The United Nations says a tenth of Venezuela’s 30m population has left the country in the past four years, more than the total which have arrived in Europe from North Africa and the Middle East. The UN forecasts a further 10% contraction this year as crude production in the world’s most richly oil endowed country dwindles still further after falling by a third last year alone. Opinion polls show 72% of the population want Maduro to resign. He retains power through the support of the military.
• Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is to divorce after 25 years of marriage casting a shadow over the ownership structure of the world’s most valuable company. Bezos, who is the world’s wealthiest man through his 16.3% stake in Amazon, may be forced to hand over half this stake to his wife who helped him to start the business. The couple announced on Twitter last night that after a trial separation they will be proceeding with the divorce. MacKenzie Bezos is a novelist who met her soon to be ex husband while they were both working at US investment firm DE Shaw. They have four children.
• German digital bank N26, brainchild of 33-year-old Valentin Stalf, is now officially Europe’s most valuable fintech startup. The mobile phone bank announced this morning that it has secured $300m in funding for global expansion at an enterprise valuation of $2.7bn. N26, which was launched in October, recently started operations in the UK, extend its reach into 24 European countries. Its backers include Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel and Hong Kong’s richest man, Sir Li Ka-shing. The bank’s fresh capital will fund a drive into the US, the most ambitious project to date. N26 has more than two million customers and is aiming for five million by 2020.
• In South Africa-related news, the country’s positioning as a responsible actor in its region is in the global spotlight as president Cyril Ramaphosa prepares to lead a strong delegation to Davos. Praise has been earned through the refusal of bail to corrupted former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang, imprisoned pending an extradition request from the US. But a far bigger challenge awaits via the DRC where the recent general election results have not been released four days after the promised deadline. South Africa led the SADC observer delegation whose assessment of the official result is crucial to its credibility. The Catholic Church, which counts 40% of Congolese as members, says the candidate of the outgoing president was thrashed by anti-Kabila nominee, former Exxon Mobil executive Martin Fayulu. Geopolitical risk analysts Eurasia told clients in a note yesterday the delay in releasing the result has been caused by president Kabila negotiating to award the election to a third candidate, Felix Tshisekedi, who has also claimed victory.