Auto Wire (March 17)
”For decades Porsche has been one of the most profitable car companies on the planet. That reputation just took a staggering hit” as it “reported operating profit of just €90 million for 2025 — a jaw-dropping collapse from €5.3 billion the previous year.” The 98% drop “immediately rattled investors and sent the company’s stock sliding…. Behind that collapse is a combination of strategic missteps, geopolitical pressures, and brutal new competition reshaping the global car market.”
Tags: €5.3b, €90m, 2025, Brutal, Car companies, Collapse, Competition, Geopolitical pressures, Investors, Jaw-dropping, Operating profit, Porsche, Profitable, Rattled, Reputation, Sliding, Staggering, Stock, Strategic missteps
Jalopnik (January 15)
“American automakers have long feared Chinese competition, worrying that cheaper cars built just as well would knock the floor out of a profitable industry. Now, regulators have found a way to protect American brands by outright banning Chinese cars — or automotive hardware or software — used for communications or autonomous driving.”
Tags: Automakers, Autonomous driving, Banning, Brands, Cars, Cheaper, China, Communications, Competition, Hardware, Profitable, Protect, Regulators, Software, U.S.
Financial Times (May 13)
For some time, “private equity firms have set their sights on the many profitable yet unloved parts of corporate Japan that sit under the umbrellas of conglomerates such as Toshiba, Hitachi and others.” Currently, “the attention on Japan could not be any greater. Much of the ‘dry powder’ sitting in funds raised for Asian dealmaking is now less likely to be used in China than to back increasingly ambitious deals in Japan.”
Tags: Ambitious, Asian, China, Conglomerates, Dealmaking, Dry-powder, Funds, Hitachi, Japan, Private equity, Profitable, Toshiba, Unloved
The Economist (September 26)
“The pandemic could lead governments to prolong the life of many undeserving firms. Keeping the growth of the undead in check will be vital to the long-term economic recovery…. Marginally profitable firms were central to Japan’s “lost decade” in the 1990s…. Zombie-infested industries suffered from inert labour markets and lower productivity growth. Since then, the rich world as a whole has begun to look more zombified.”
Tags: Economic recovery, Governments, Growth, Inert, Japan, Labour markets, Lost decade, Pandemic, Productivity, Profitable, Undeserving, Zombie, Zombified
