By Nick Lambe, Managing Director, Links International
There were some pretty interesting stories in the market last week, but firstly I want to assure you that a certain game by a certain Japanese firm will not get a look in, even if that firm’s share price has gone through the roof.
In the banking world, the global woes continue with HSBC being on the rack again in the US with the arrest of the global head of FX trading and his colleague. The last time HSBC was under the watchful eye of the DOJ, the now out of work George Osbourne had to step in to keep HSBC in play in the US…. Will we see the UK’s new chancellor of the exchequer packing his bags for a summer vacation in the US?
Furthermore, Goldman Sachs is following suit of many other firms (BAML, JP, Barclays, HSBC) with its announcement of 1700 layoffs, despite better than expected revenues (although this is primarily due to the bank being a lot more squeaky clean than yesteryear). What is in store for the investment banking world over the course of the next few years?
$1bn for a company that hasn’t made a profit yet??
Michael Dubin (who is he, I hear you say?), the CEO of ‘Dollar Shave Club,’ has just sold his business to Unilever for close to US$1bn. They are yet to make a profit, despite having 3.2m members and turning over US$152m and, what’s more, they are currently facing a law suit from Gillette, owned by P&G. We must doff the proverbial hat to you and the VC backers; I’m sure you are very happy your YouTube video went viral Michael!!
Disclaimer: This column is designed to be a lighthearted weekly update on the global business news that I enjoyed reading. We would welcome your thoughts, comments and suggestions. Please feel free to contact us.
More next week……