Bloomberg (July 7)
As bad as China’s stock market rout is, things could be even worse. “Chinese companies have found a guaranteed way to prevent investors from selling their shares: suspend trading. Almost 200 stocks halted trading after the close on Monday, bringing the total number of suspensions to 745, or 26 percent of listed firms on mainland exchanges.” Valued at $1.4 trillion, the suspended shares account for 21 percent of China’s market capitalization. “If not for the halts, a 28 percent plunge in the Shanghai Composite Index from its June 12 peak would probably be even deeper.”
Tags: China, Exchanges, Market-cap, Rout, Shanghai Composite, Stock market, Suspension, Trading
Financial Times (May 12)
There’s little obvious business sense to Pfizer’s proposed takeover of AstraZeneca. Strategically, there’s not much to be gained aside from effecting a change of tax domicile. “Pfizer’s dealmaking history is moreover a deeply dispiriting one…. Despite having spent some $240bn on three big acquisitions since 2000, its market capitalisation is just $185bn today. Meanwhile the Dow Jones index is more than 40 per cent higher.” AstraZeneca’s directors must proceed warily. This is about more than the potential short-term profit to existing shareholders.
Tags: Acquisitions, AstraZeneca, Dealmaking, Directors, Dow Jones, Market-cap, Pfizer, Profit, Shareholders, Short term, Strategy, Takeover, Tax domicile
Forbes (August 21)
NASDAQ listed Apple “became the most valuable company in history on Monday in terms of market capitalization” when its market cap rose to more than $620 billion. In inflation-adjusted terms, however, Microsoft retains the crown. On December 30, 1999 Microsoft peaked around $618 billion, approximately $850 billion adjusted for inflation. With a current market-cap of about $257 billion, Microsoft is now valued at less than half of Apple.
Tags: Apple, Market-cap, Microsoft, Nasdaq
