LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Boris Johnson has launched a long-shot Brexit plan with a very short timetable. The British prime minister’s much-anticipated alternative blueprint for leaving the European Union has several major flaws. But even if Brussels is willing to negotiate a deal in time for a summit due to be held in two weeks, it’s far from clear that the UK parliament would pass it.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Hong Kong and London are both financial centres racked by political turmoil. But months of violent protest in the Chinese territory and parliamentary disarray in Britain are no obstacles to Charles Li’s hopes of combining the two cities’ stock exchanges. The chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing on Wednesday unveiled a plan to buy London Stock Exchange Group for $37 billion in cash and shares. It’s a last-ditch attempt to prevent his target from escaping.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Corporate excess is a common phenomenon these days. Chief executives whizz around in corporate jets while their giant salaries pile up in offshore bank accounts. Directors breezily approve multi-billion dollar takeovers that throw thousands out of work. Lawyers and lobbyists water down environmental standards and intimidate smaller rivals while making the most of tax loopholes.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy is already unravelling. Six weeks after he took office with a promise to leave the European Union by Oct. 31, “do or die”, the British prime minister is running out of escape routes.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Boris Johnson is bringing the Brexit crisis to a head. The British prime minister on Wednesday announced plans to suspend parliament for more than four weeks until Oct. 14, making life harder for lawmakers who want to thwart his plans to leave the European Union by the end of that month. That will force those who want to prevent a chaotic “no-deal” Brexit to move quickly – and makes a contentious election more likely.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - London Stock Exchange Group is making a big bet on big data. The bourse operator on Thursday confirmed its plan to take over financial information purveyor Refinitiv for $27 billion, including debt. To make the numbers add up, Chief Executive David Schwimmer will not just have to cut costs, but find new sources of growth.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - David Schwimmer is making a bold break for independence. Almost exactly a year since he took charge of the London Stock Exchange Group, the former Goldman Sachs investment banker is hoping to finalise a $27 billion takeover of financial data provider Refinitiv. It’s a complex and highly leveraged attempt by the perennial takeover target to turn itself into a buyer instead.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Boris Johnson has finally realised his ambition. The former mayor of London and prominent Brexiteer is set to become the UK’s next prime minister after winning the contest to lead the Conservative Party, garnering 66% of the roughly 139,000 votes cast by party members. His triumph will be fleeting, though. To avoid a shorter, even less successful tenure than his predecessor Theresa May, he must wriggle through one of three narrow escape routes.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Why don’t more unemployed people move to other cities to find work? How do schools contribute to inequality? Or why do some depressed areas recover, while others languish? These questions, which have plagued and puzzled economists for decades, have acquired new urgency. Raghuram Rajan, a former Indian central bank governor who is in the running to replace Bank of England chief Mark Carney, thinks the answers will be clearer if they are studied through a new lens.
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Big technology companies have upended industries ranging from music to retailing. What will be their disruptive impact on financial services? That’s the latest conundrum keeping bank regulators awake at night. Innovations like Facebook’s new global digital currency, Libra, demand a joined-up response. That will be hard to agree.
Hong Kong's metro system will stay shut on Saturday, the rail operator said, paralysing transport in the Asian financial hub after a night of chaos in which police shot a teenage boy and pro-democracy protesters torched businesses and metro stations.