Institutional Investor (May 4)
With an unexpected turn, the Icahn-Xerox battle has grown even uglier. “After surrendering their jobs to a ‘gloating’ Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, Xerox’s leadership defies the activists and hangs on — for now.” Where the chips will ultimately fall is now highly uncertain.
Tags: Activists, Battle, Deason, Icahn, Leadership, Uncertain, Unexpected, Xerox
Businessweek (May 3)
President Trump “wrote a book on dealmaking, only this time nuclear war and peace will hang in the balance, rather than a real estate contract. And on the evidence so far, his sparring partner Kim Jong Un has mastered The Art of the Deal, too.” For example, “Kim has already changed the conversation while giving away very little, beyond a moratorium on nuclear tests that may no longer be needed…. The summit alone is a public-relations coup for Kim. A one-on-one meeting with the U.S. president has been a long-held North Korean goal.”
Tags: Dealmaking, Kim Jong Un, Moratorium, Nuclear tests, Nuclear war, Peace, Trump
Time (May 3)
“Diplomacy is subtle, atomic science complex. But the perceived villainy of Iran by the average American is the stuff of cartoons.” Opponents of the nuclear deal have been keen to exploit this antipathy. According to Gallup, “84% of the American public viewed Iran ‘unfavorably,’” when the deal was signed and with the constant stoking of fear there’s little reason to believe that number has gone down.
Tags: Antipathy, Diplomacy, Fear, Gallup, Iran, Nuclear deal, Opponents, U.S., Unfavorably, Villainy
Inc. (May Issue)
“Building a company to last and building a company to sell are the same thing.” Young entrepreneurs shouldn’t “be seduced by shortcuts” and they should “implement best practices.” In short, “you should build it as if you were going to have it forever and yet, at the same time, build it so that you could sell it tomorrow for as much money as possible, even if you don’t intend to.”
Tags: Best practices, Company, Entrepreneurs, Forever, Money, Sell, Shortcuts
The Economist (April 28)
“There is no consensus on what a crypto-asset is. Even within countries, authorities disagree on how to classify them. Are they a commodity, a currency, a security or their own, peculiar asset class?” The Swiss regulator, FINMA, took what may become a popular approach. FINMA’s treatment of crypto-assets will be based “on their actual function—ie, whether they are used for payments; as a utility token that gives its holder access to a specific service; or as an investment. This also means a token’s classification can change over time.”
Tags: Asset class, Authorities, Commodity, Consensus, Crypto-asset, Currency, FINMA, Regulator, Security, Switzerland, Treatment
