🔒 Alec Hogg: Amazon lines up its second biggest takeover

I am looking forward to being with you in our webinar at noon updating the BizNews share portfolio – it’s only for Premium members. Click here to register. The portfolio’s biggest holding is Amazon, back in the news this morning with a $9bn bid to buy Hollywood studio MGM. This will be the group’s second biggest acquisition after Whole Foods. Click here to understand the relevance.

• I was fascinated to see Investec CEO Fani Titi this week propagating a message that SA’s most successful private bank is targeting new clients. Good luck. With the Kantors and Koseffs now long gone, hearing my own long-time banker is leaving Investec raised the unthinkable. After interviewing Discovery’s SA CEO Hylton Kallner this week, I’m definitely switching. What rational being who can resist 75% discounts on air travel, healthy food and other add-ons? No idea how Investec could counter that. Have a listen to my interview with Kallner by clicking here.

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• The Wuhan Leak theory is gathering momentum with the The Wall Street Journal this morning retracing how the coronavirus might have ended up in the Wuhan Institute of Virology Lab. The comprehensive article, republished below, explains how focus has shifted to a disused mine which WIV scientists visited after three workers contracted a fatal mystery illness after cleaning up bat guano. The Chinese government has dismissed the WSJ articles as “not true.”

• As worrying, the US has witnessed unprecedented in-the-street attacks on Jews in the wake of the recent violence in the Middle East. In his weekly Free Expression column, WSJ’s editor at large Gerard Baker explains how escalating anti-semitism reflects deeper problems in society. His piece, headlined “The Rise of Woke Anti-Semitism” provides excellent insights into what’s going down in Joe Biden-led America. Click here to access.

• Another opinion piece in the WSJ worth reading is Jon Sindreu’s take on bitcoin, highlighting the role Elon Musk has been playing in the extreme volatility the cryptocurrency has experienced lately. Click here to read it.