What we’re reading (2/28)
“The Private Equity Party Might Be Ending. It’s About Time.” (New York Times). “[T]he [private equity] party could be ending. In a little-noticed December ruling in a case involving a failed 2014 leveraged buyout, Jed S. Rakoff, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, threw some sand into the otherwise well-lubricated gears of what has been a 40-year financial bonanza. It’s about time we started asking tough questions about the ramifications of loading up companies with huge amounts of debt they will surely have difficulty repaying.”
“Pay Cuts, Taxes, Child Care: What Another Year of Remote Work Will Look Like” (Wall Street Journal). “Companies are anticipating another largely remote work year, and new questions about compensation and benefits are weighing on managers. Discussions about the future of work, such as whether to reduce the salaries of employees who have left high-cost cities, are priority items in board meetings and senior executive sessions across industries, according to chief executives, board members and corporate advisers.”
“$3 Gasoline Could Be Around The Corner—Unless OPEC And Russia Start Pumping More Oil” (CNN Business). “OPEC and Russia's unprecedented production cuts last spring lifted oil prices out of a death spiral. Nearly a year later, the group is under pressure to cool off the red-hot market.”
“The Rules Of The Tech Game Are Changing” (The Economist). “The gale of creative destruction used to blow hard in Silicon Valley. The list of firms toppled from dominance runs from Fairchild Semiconductor to Hewlett-Packard. Yet recently the giants have clung on: Apple and Microsoft are over 40 years old and Alphabet and Amazon over 20; even Facebook is 17 this month. What happened?”
“Coinbase And Roblox Take A Page From Google, Keeping Marketing Costs Way Down Ahead Of Public Debuts” (CNBC). “Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and gaming app Roblox are both getting set to go public through a direct listing of their shares. They have something else in common that’s likely to prove very attractive to investors: Brand awareness. Both companies spend less than 10% of their net revenue on sales and marketing. Those are savings that allow the companies to focus more on product development and even profit generation.”
