What we’re reading (12/28)
“Startup Bubble Fueled By Fed’s Cheap Money Policy Finally Burst In 2023” (CNBC). “[M]oney was cheap and plentiful. The Federal Reserve’s near-zero interest rate policy had been in effect since after the 2008 financial crisis, and Covid stimulus efforts added fuel to the fire, incentivizing investors to take risks, betting on the next big innovation. And crypto. This year, it all unwound.”
“The State Of Deals” (New York Times). “Despite some notable transactions, the year presented challenges to the bankers and lawyers who advise corporate clients on big takeovers and initial public offerings. Global M.&A. fell to a 10-year low. About 53,529 deals worth a combined $2.9 trillion were announced, down 17 percent annually by volume, according to data from L.S.E.G.”
“Steve Ballmer Is Set To Make $1 Billion A Year For Doing Nothing” (CNN Business). “For most people, passive income is a bit of extra pocket change that requires minimal effort to earn to supplement a main source of income. For Steve Ballmer, it’s $1 billion. Ballmer, the sixth richest person in the world, is due to collect that much in dividends from Microsoft in 2024. This comes after the tech giant boosted its quarterly dividend payout to 75 cents a share, or $3 a share annually.”
“The Zeitgeist Is Changing. A Strange, Romantic Backlash To The Tech Era Looms” (The Guardian). “Cultural upheavals can be a riddle in real time. Trends that might seem obvious in hindsight are poorly understood in the present or not fathomed at all. We live in turbulent times now, at the tail end of a pandemic that killed millions and, for a period, reordered existence as we knew it. It marked, perhaps more than any other crisis in modern times, a new era, the world of the 2010s wrenched away for good.”
“Trick Your Brain Into Being Better With Money” (Wall Street Journal). “‘Our brains are fundamentally not wired to make the decisions that we’re asking ourselves to make,’ she said. ‘You’re asking a single individual to stand up against a whole host of organizations who are incentivized to get you to part with your money as quickly as possible.’”
