John Gapper



Profile:
Full name: John Gapper

Area of interest: Business trends and strategy, esp. in the US. (Blog covers: business, finance, media, technology)

Journals/Organisation: Financial Times

Email: [mailto:john.gapper@ft.com john.gapper@ft.com]

Personal website: http://www.johngapper.com

Website: http://www.ft.com/comment/columnists/john-gapper

Blog: http://blogs.ft.com/businessblog/#axzz1pq07kCl4

Representation: http://www.johngapper.com/contact.html

Networks: https://twitter.com/#!/johngapper | http://www.linkedin.com/pub/0/154/4a0



Biography:
About: http://www.johngapper.com/bio.html

Education: Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania: US education and training; Harkness fellow of the Commonwealth Fund of New York

Career: Reporter with The Daily Mirror, Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph; joined FT in 1987: has covered banking, labour relations and the media, was the assistant editor incharge of comment analysis pages and features

Current position/role: Associate editor and chief business commentator


 * also writes/has written for: Los Angeles Times: archive

Other roles/Main role:

Other activities:

Disclosures: Viewpoints/Insight:

Broadcast media: Appears regularly on CNN, CNBC and the BBC

Video: John Gapper visits occupy Wall Street protests - FT.com

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours: Business Journalist of the Year Awards 2008: Best Communicator

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:

 * All that glitters: the fall of Barings OCLC 36084733, 1996, co-author Nicholas Denton - an account of the collapse of Barings Bank

Latest work: Debut novel A Fatal Debt will be published in July/August 2012 by Random House in the US and Duckworth in the UK

Speaking/Appearances: http://www.johngapper.com/speaking.html

Current/recent debate:



Financial Times
Column name:

Remit/Info: Business and finance, focussing on the media and technology industries and innovation. Also writes editorial and features on a range of business topics

Section: Comment

Role: Associate editor and chief business commentator. Writes this column and also contributes leaders and other articles

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:john.gapper@ft.com john.gapper@ft.com]

Website: http://www.ft.com/comment/columnists/johngapper

Commissioning Editor:

Day published: Thursday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 900 words


 * see also: Business Blog



Articles: 2016

 * Cracks are appearing in fintech lenders - Marketplace is vulnerable to the credit cycle rather than floating in a brave new world - 12th May
 * Trinity Mirror should not be condemned for The New Day’s failure - Experimenting with a different newspaper idea was justified - 6th May
 * Airlines will carry on flying for no money - Air travel is far from being a pleasant experience but it has become a cheap and flexible one - 5th May
 * What Apple can learn from Dyson - The US tech company should take notes from a British innovator - 30th April
 * Google’s Android tactics are Microsoft Light - The strategy – how to advance without appearing to attack – is a masterpiece in craftiness - 21st April
 * Investors suffer in the Vincent Bolloré game of thrones - The French media mogul’s approach to corporate governance makes Rupert Murdoch look like a saint - 14th April
 * The princes of Disneyland are under a curse - No one seemed to believe King Bob but he really did want to find a successor to the magic kingdom - 7th April
 * Panama Papers: new financial rules needed for politicians - Broader question is how leaders should behave both in office and after - 5th April
 * The man who shaped the Silicon Valley state of mind - Never relax, never stop evolving. Around the corner, someone is coming for you - 26th March
 * McKinsey’s fingerprints are all over Valeant - Michael Pearson brought a consultant’s clinical eye to the pharma industry as the company’s chief - 24th March
 * Robots are better investors than people - The greatest danger lies not in heeding a robo-adviser but in behaving like an emotional human being - 17th March
 * Death and rebirth of the stock exchange - Trading venues have grown in value despite regulatory, technological and competitive disruption - 10th March
 * Relax and let the robot drive you - I prefer a Google-like car driven by a computer to one driven by a human distracted by a phone - 3rd March
 * Zuma has betrayed South Africa’s promise - The government must restore confidence that it is a fair country for business - 24th February
 * A requiem for the octopus of South Africa - A corporate culture skilled at dominating apartheid nation was outmatched by global capital markets - 18th February
 * Bridgewater is troubled over transparency - Dalio’s method of running his hedge fund seems weird, which reflects badly on dishonesty elsewhere - 11th February
 * Regulators fail to block fraudulent ads - The usual suspects in banking would be thrilled to be treated as leniently as those in marketing - 4th February
 * Alphabet and Apple spell global tax war - A fiscal system formed under the League of Nations in 1928 is about to fracture and fall apart - 28th January
 * Europe’s tech start-ups need to scale faster - Europe has many clusters of enterprises but too few expand enough to become the next Facebook - 21st January
 * Food and beer makers are on a dangerous diet - It would be odd to abandon the hope of creating premium products - 14th January
 * The stateless company plays a risky game - Fly-by-night businesses that choose the most convenient home for tax will provoke a backlash - 7th January



Articles: 2015

 * Scrooge’s activist letter to Santa Claus - Jingle bells, rides in one-horse open sleighs, eggnog cocktails: Oh, what fun you have with my money - 24th December
 * The mogul’s guide to being a press baron - Jack Ma of Alibaba should take a lesson in being a news publisher from Jeff Bezos, his Amazon rival - 17th December
 * Beijing’s smog is a symptom of corruption - China can no longer ignore the fact that citizens wear face masks to avoid inhaling poisonous dust - 10th December
 * Zuckerberg’s babies should be unbundled - Solving the social problems of a generation is a different order of challenge to managing Facebook - 3rd December
 * Big Pharma is addicted to an illusion - Paying high prices for proven drugs and taking a hit to the balance sheet does not avoid the bill - 26th November
 * Economies are hard for Isis to destroy - Terrorism has its own logic. It fosters fear far in excess of the danger that it presents - 19th November
 * India makes noodles out of Modi’s message - Nestlé did not do very much wrong, and certainly not enough to deserve an abrupt fall in sales - 12th November
 * Do not let the spies weaken encryption - The internet’s biggest privacy problem is not that there is too much security, but too little - 5th November
 * The financial tide has turned for Valeant - As the company has recently found, investors’ perceptions can change fast in this environment - 29th October
 * Europe’s banks face a difficult global retreat - The simplest way to increase profits in a shrinking market is to cut costs - 22nd October
 * Germany has to show that its energy is clean - Country is on a path to achieving the hard task in renewables while flunking the simple one in coal - 15th October
 * Resistance to fast fashion is futile - The US is full of format innovation, yet it missed the most important innovation of the past decade - 8th October
 * Ralph Lauren, designer of American dream - A changing of the guard as the fashion boss hands the reins over - 3rd October
 * Publishers are in peril from annoying ads - Sale of Business Insider shows the challenge facing publishers that rely on digital advertising - 1st October
 * Volkswagen’s deception is a warning to everyone - Suddenly, behaviour that was common practice is judged to be improper and possibly illegal - 24th September
 * VW emissions scandal is reality’s revenge - Unless carmaker can defend charge of deliberate deception its reputation will be badly damaged - 22nd September
 * Symphony is a real challenge to Bloomberg - It is the virtual equivalent of the old stock exchange, a gathering place for everyone in the business - 17th September
 * Glencore has a mogul in denial - Glasenberg is having to retrench at the time when he should be able to snap up mining bargains - 10th September
 * China should welcome its short sellers - Foreign hedge funds, are convenient villains in a financial crisis - 3rd September
 * Alphabet can create a clever conglomerate - Big companies outperform when they exploit their advantages - 13th August
 * Robots can kill but they do not understand us - Despite rapid advances in machine learning, androids remain a distant prospect - 30th July
 * The pink paper has embraced the digital maelstrom - Business publications have the advantage that readers will subscribe to financial information - 25th July
 * Japan will gain from Toshiba’s humiliation - The slow, bumpy, but inexorable progress in corporate reform offers investors an opportunity - 23rd July
 * Nintendo wizards put magic in video games - Iwata and Myamoto expanded the hobby of teenagers into family-oriented fun - 16th July
 * Cities are hard to see through skyscrapers - Architectural expressions of individuality make global metropolises look more like each other - 9th July
 * The messaging system with nothing left to say - After two decades of indiscretions, digital trails and bulging inboxes, emailers are picking up Slack - 20th June
 * Lenders of the revolution look familiar - Goldman Sachs, hedge funds and investment trusts muscle into online consumer lending - 18th June
 * Luxury goods face a global reckoning - The China crackdown shows what can occur suddenly to conspicuous consumption - 11th June
 * Deutsche, stuck in middle of global finance - Jain and Fitschen personified the muddled sense of identity at the heart of the company - 8th June
 * The unhealthily high price of cancer drugs - Companies take advantage of inflexible patient demand to try to recoup research costs - 4th June
 * Apple’s Ive is tired of designing everything - Some regard Sir Jonathan as the group’s most powerful executive, thanks to his partnership with Jobs - 30th May
 * Americabest referee to discipline Fifa - The US has a long tradition and displays great vigour pursuing international criminality - 28th May
 * Silicon Valley has become a dream factory - Investors eager to throw money at start-ups that look as if they can create a brave new world - 21st May
 * Picasso is not just a valuable abstract - The financial worth of any work of art remains as mysterious and unknowable as Mona Lisa’s smile - 14th May
 * HSBC should seek its future in Hong Kong - British politicians may realise the UK cannot be complacent about its place in the world - 7th May
 * Power without responsibility on the board - Instead of long-termism at Industrivärden and Volkswagen, there was corporate self-indulgence - 30th April
 * Europe needs Deutsche Bank as its champion - Nationality in finance is not vital — the City thrived by not being nationalistic or protectionist - 23rd April
 * The politicians pillaging your pension - The next government will trample retirement savings, no matter who wins - 18th April
 * Fossil fuel campaigners play charades - Why should funds listen to a protest that is not taken seriously by the activists themselves? - 17th April
 * Companies have a new audience - Younger consumers with liberal attitudes are a bigger market than religious conservatives - 2nd April
 * Silicon Valley is seizing the customers - Instead of building for others, companies are doing more for themselves - 26th March
 * Stop trying to ground Gulf airlines - They have come out of nowhere to steal a march on older carriers - 19th March
 * How to follow in Buffett’s big footsteps - It boils down to three precepts: be patient, be private and be peculiar - 5th March
 * The bank that ran aground while overseas - To anyone who witnessed its rise to become a global bank, the entire thing is baffling - 27th February
 * Software is steering auto industry - This revolution makes it possible for a technology group to be a car company - 19th February
 * Big oil is not the biggest victim of cheap crude - Countries not companies are paying the price for the industry’s crisis - 5th February
 * Tech has to create more than disruption - Start-ups need to augment jobs rather than eliminate them - 22nd January
 * A lame duck president in a strutting pose - Real message of speech is the push for another Clinton presidency - 22nd January
 * The prudent mogul breaks up his empire - Investors tolerate the foibles of a founder who displays talent, but are suspicious of his successors - 15th January
 * Regulators right to cut banks down to size - Fed’s new capital standards hint at forcing complex institutions to break themselves up - 8th January
 * McDonald’s is shaken by the Shack - Millennials regard McDonald’s as unhealthy, outdated and downmarket - 2nd January



Articles: 2014

 * McDonald’s is shaken by the Shack - Millennials regard McDonald’s as unhealthy, outdated and downmarket - 2nd January
 * A sharing economy must share the risks - We have 20th-century benefits and insurance that do not fit the 21st-century worker - 18th December
 * Expect dark sequels to the Sony hack - Many others could potentially become casual targets in the same way - 11th December
 * Men alone should no longer run finance - At this rate, women should achieve executive parity in about 120 years, well into the 22nd century - 4th December
 * Cheap energy is the new cheap labour - For companies wondering where to locate, the world has turned upside down - 27th November
 * Uber should not run down the messenger - It is perverse to be angry that others are upset with you if you pride yourself on annoying them - 19th November
 * A plan for fixing the next crisis - In a serious crunch, it would be every bank regulator for itself - 12th November
 * A Taylor Swift reply to Spotify - The streaming service badly wants the singer back, but this could perhaps be her reply - 6th November
 * Two Virgins collide in California’s desert - As both a businessman and adventurer, Richard Branson must choose which persona dominates - 3rd November
 * Television prepares to loosen up - Most people prefer choices to be made for them, as long as they are getting a bargain - 23rd October
 * Technology will not kill the banks - Silicon Valley does not want a new financial system, but rather to ride on the existing one - 16th October
 * Pimco shows stars are not really solo artists - Bill Gross’s old firm is shifting from the cult of one personality toward several smaller ones - 9th October
 * Tech’s tax defence is washing away - The OECD is making faster progress towards fixing the gaps in the system - 2nd October
 * Hubris has set Tesco on a perilous course - Highly successful companies often contain the seeds of their own destruction - 27th September
 * Scotland needs bravery to build strong banks - The mechanisms the country will need as an independent entity take courage and a lot of time - 18th September
 * Meet the new boss, same as the old boss - Keeping a founder in charge, rather than appointing a CEO, is more fashionable today - 6th September
 * Germany’s taxis should not triumph over Uber - The problem is not that cabs are endangered but overly protected - 4th September
 * A chance to turn on, tune in and pay out - Festivals have become big business, while being a respite from the capitalist world - 28th August
 * Ecclestone earns his final chance - The Formula One supremo did not regard the $44m payment to Gribkowsky as bribe but bargain - 8th August
 * Murdoch’s bid for Time Warner threatens TV quality - The fact that once-dominant cable companies face new online and digital competition is good - 24th July
 * The price of aerospace innovation is too high - The Wright Brothers were not motivated by a desire to save fuel when they took to the skies - 17th July
 * US banks will pay for failure to modernise - A country that often leads in consumer technology lags far behind in payments systems - 10th July
 * We are the product Facebook is testing - Making all users agree to a catch-all list fails the consent standard - 3rd July
 * A tabloid requiem has been written - They had to express readers’ thoughts more strongly than the readers could themselves - 25th June
 * Advertisers have lost a generation - Tech-savvy US teens now watch only about 21 minutes of broadcast television a week - 19th June
 * The football disaster that conquered the world of sport - Fifa has been a stunning success in spite of flaws that have been exposed as never before - 12th June
 * Tiananmen split the workers of the world - The opening of China through reform and investment has driven a wedge into the proletariat - 5th June
 * Only giant publishers can take on Amazon - If it turns publishing into a lossmaking business, the profession of writing will suffer - 29th May
 * Credit Suisse chief should go with honour - If a criminal conviction means little more than paying a fine and moving on, it means nothing - 23rd May
 * Credit Suisse chief should go with honour - If a criminal conviction means little more than paying a fine and moving on, it means nothing - 22nd May
 * Google ruling shows EU law is an ass - The right to delete does not mean history should be hidden from the collective view - 15th May
 * The baffling model of modern art auctions - Dealers do their best to avoid either displaying prices or disclosing what a work is worth - 8th May
 * The byzantine curves of the modern art market - Dealers do their best to avoid either displaying prices or disclosing what a work is worth - 8th May
 * Barclays confronts old demons - The need to create a ‘bad bank’ harks back to a chastening experience, but this time it is worse - 3rd May
 * Tax savings will not make Pfizer stronger - Companies put together for tax reasons – without industrial or cultural logic – will be fragile - 1st May 2014
 * Pharma needs research, not cuts - If the entire industry adopted Valeant’s approach, drug discovery would grind to a halt - 24th April
 * Executives should not buy nobility on the shareholder’s dime - Respectability and profitability seem to sit together uneasily - 19th April
 * Perils of the chief who stays too long - For a talented leader of a large company, seven to 10 years in post is about right - 18th April
 * Perils of the chief who stays too long - For a talented leader of a large company, seven to 10 years in post is about right - 17th April
 * Excitement over a small news story - The latest journalism start-ups reflect a dichotomy at the heart of digital publishing - 10th April
 * Apple’s ‘holy war’ made the Valley fertile - Rivalry may stem from vanity in the boardroom but it is often extremely effective - 5th April
 * Goldman performs a high-speed retreat - The rush into a business profitable for those with an edge has gone into reverse - 3rd April
 * Tragedy demands corporate tact - GM dealt deftly with a fatal fault while Malaysia Airlines’ crisis has become a diplomatic disaster - 27th March
 * Bitcoin needs to grow up - You cannot challenge currencies and disrupt a global industry and then complain about scrutiny - 13th March
 * Punishing London’s oligarchs is not enough - The most punitive financial sanction would be to target state-controlled Russian banks - 6th March
 * Do not leave activism to the hedge funds - The danger is that directors talk to the loudest voices but spurn contact with anyone else - 27th February
 * No such thing as the banking profession - Self-inflicted injuries result from a lack of both common purpose and shared values - 13th February
 * Bitcoin is more than a speculators’ currency - People could gain ownership rights to digital goods similar to physical ones - 6th February
 * Bitcoin is more than a speculators’ currency - People could gain ownership rights to digital goods similar to physical ones - 6th February
 * Elite migrant workers must be welcomed - Skilled migrants boost their host cities by inspiring economic activity and job creation - 30th January
 * Davos lacks Valley’s revolutionary spirit - The tech set stands out while a familiar crowd returns to the task of making the world nicer - 23rd January
 * Bankers and lawyers are on an unhealthy treadmill - While long hours are not worth the effort, those able to effect change do not care - 16th January
 * Fiat’s lone poker player needs to find another deal - Sergio Marchionne is not an automobile guy and could not become one even if he wanted to - 9th January



Articles: 2013

 * What viral content does to news - The fastest-growing forms of online ‘content’ are click-bait headlines and videos - 2nd January
 * Doctors should prescribe not promote - Drugs groups could be tempted to reproduce murky practices in vulnerable emerging markets - 19th December
 * Old banks are back but without managers - The public face of an industry in desperate need of a reputational makeover will live on - 14th December
 * Silicon Valley must keep the spies out - Tech groups need to be seen as stewards of confidential data, rather than conduits to the NSA - 12th December
 * Public parks nurture private wealth - Cities must ensure that such works amount to more than a benefit scheme for one group - 5th December
 * Fleet St becomes its own story at trial - Journalists in dock in hacking case as press fills its columns - 14th November
 * Carney is wise to nurture the City - But will take a lot of international negotiations to agree on any new bank resolution regime - 30th October
 * Companies must adapt to new rules - Banks and utilities need to make their case, be open and look beyond immediate troubles - 24th October
 * Apple and Burberry’s control formula - Ahrendts’ move demonstrates how the strategies of the two groups are related - 17th October
 * End of the jumbo jet era approaches - Airlines now want midsized aircraft that are cheap to fly and easy to deploy - 11th October
 * Social networks cannot oppress us - There is a flaw in any business that relies on pushing users into addictive but unsettling activity - 3rd October 2013
 * Why regulators are watching JPMorgan - Dimon put his bank under a far brighter spotlight than it needed to be – at a hefty price - 26th September
 * Why taxi cab drivers cannot put down their smartphones - Every Silicon Valley buzz-phrase, from the app economy to the internet of things, has converged on the industry - 20th September
 * Why taxi cab drivers cannot put down their smartphones - Every Silicon Valley buzz-phrase, from the app economy to the internet of things, has converged on the industry - 19th September
 * Tina Brown leaves journalism behind - The media’s most irrepressible trend-surfer was always bigger than her cover stories - 14th September
 * America’s heart is in the city once again - Leigh Gallagher has written an entertaining journey through the demise of US suburban sprawl - 9th September
 * The high price of Europe’s lost lead - Silicon Valley and Steve Jobs defeated efforts by operators to maintain the mobile world as a walled garden - 5th September
 * Strategy gurus cannot choose a strategy - Consultancy is in a funk as midsized partnerships realise they have to do something to survive - 29th August
 * Microsoft must stop chasing consumers - Individuals don’t buy the products, businesses do – it doesn’t have the flair for retail success - 27th August
 * Do not blindly trust guardians of our security - Before the leaks, we had little insight into the scale of the NSA’s access - 21st August
 * Banks should keep out of mines and warehouses - When Wall Street launches itself into unlikely - 24th Julyenterprises, it is time, once again, to start worrying
 * Superstars still reign over publishing - The decline of retail chains has made book publishers warier of taking risks on new authors - 18th July
 * BP as bad at capping payouts as oil wells - Legal jeopardy is one of the risks of doing business in locations where reserves are bountiful - 11th july
 * Regulators are finally closing in on banks - The 2008 crisis revealed that too little capital was being held for the risks being run - 3rd July
 * The City has gone too far for minority investors’ sake - London’s proposals to prevent ENRC-style scandals are oddly undemocratic - 27th June
 * Big Steel is a very big problem for China - Wisco is a large part of an ailing, inefficient industry that Beijing appears unable to discipline - 20th June
 * Big data has to show it’s not Big Brother - We do not know yet what this new technology of data analysis and artificial intelligence means - 13th June
 * US and China are in a web of warfare - The US is exploiting domestic companies such as Apple to monitor foreign citizens - 8th June
 * Google is this era’s General Electric - Larry Page has boundless ambition and the capacity to deliver unexpected products - 6th June
 * Worry about the jobs revolving door - It is becoming usual for public servants to cash in by taking private-sector posts - 30th May
 * Wall Street needs open-court justice - If he is innocent, Steve Cohen’s good name should be restored. If guilty, he should be punished - 23rd May
 * Bloomberg can’t take customers for granted - The company’s error will prompt bank and fund managers to take another look at the relationship - 16th May
 * Microsoft has just blown its oldest trick - A computer that people cannot find their way around is not useful - 9th May
 * Bangladesh’s tragedies must stop - Western companies should not withdraw from the country but work to raise standards - 2nd May
 * A Royal Charter for the British internet - The iPast shall consider fairness and objectivity, and dismiss them - 28th March
 * Investors have a right to ask for cash - There is no harm in investors challenging executives if they are hoarding money - 21st March
 * Hedge funds’ reputation in the balance - An entire industry can be discredited over the sins of a few - 18th March
 * Drinking yourself to death is not a right - Societies should try to limit alcoholism and obesity, as they have with tobacco use - 15th March
 * Drinking yourself to death is not a right - Societies should try to limit alcoholism and obesity, as they have with tobacco use - 14th March
 * The billionaire club has become less exclusive - Those yearning for recognition of their wealth should consider giving their riches away - 7th March
 * Bosses are reining in staff because they can - The lesson from Marissa Mayer’s whip-cracking at Yahoo is that this is an age of harder work - 27th February
 * Europe takes its bite from the City - Business may switch to New York or Hong Kong to evade EU rules - 21st February
 * Perils of supermarket cost-cutting machines - The switching of horsemeat for beef is a spectacular signal that a limit has been reached - 14th February
 * Wave of money eludes the real economy - The spate of dealmaking contrasts oddly with sluggish economies and risk-averse banks - 9th February
 * Rating agencies must beware of the law - Free speech is no defence if standards are lowered to please issuers and gain revenues - 7th February
 * Corporate tax posturing should stop - Companies are complying with laws that governments could change if they wished - 31st January
 * Davos: infotainment, not a conspiracy - What media group in the current climate would not like to own such a business? - 24th January
 * Aaron Swartz’s illusion over research - Deleting private companies from the equation might allow savings but could reduce efficiency - 17th January
 * Censorship makes China look ridiculous - Regime tolerates absurdity in pursuit of self-preservation - 10th January
 * The superhighway of information has a toll - News online is becoming more expensive for readers - 3rd January



Articles: 2012

 * UBS never took enough interest in its own risks - The bank needs finally to get a grip on the business - 20th December
 * Insurers must learn lessons from AIG - Business still being done in the name of insurance bears little resemblance to it - 13th December
 * The law, Fleet Street and a free press - There are many traps but a decent outcome is possible - 29th November
 * HP should have known all about Autonomy - It was no secret that some analysts and investors suspected the UK software company of flattering its figures - 22nd November
 * The Petraeus affair is short on substance - The scandal did not change how the general did his job or was regarded by colleagues - 15th November
 * President has  allies to unlock Congress - Obama and businesses seeking stability can help each other out of a fix - 8th November
 * New York’s ascent meets the rising ocean - The city is not the only global economic hub at the mercy of climate change and rising tides - 31st October
 * The Savile affair exposes a hole at the BBC’s heart - It is staffed by bright technocrats who have a loose grip on events - 25th October
 * Pandit may have left but the risks remain - Investors lack faith in the ability of its senior executives - 18th October
 * Too late for America to eliminate Huawei - The time to declare telecoms a strategic industry was 20 years ago; now is the time for a deal - 11th October
 * Innovation drives America’s reinvention - From looking lost in telecoms and energy, the US has recovered and raced ahead of competition - 4th October
 * Looser listing won’t help start-ups win investors - Regulatory short cuts cannot create growth conditions - 27th September
 * BAE will be left behind without a safer pilot - As a result of the British aerospace group’s own decisions, a deal with EADS is the best of a limited set of choices - 20th September
 * Incentives for banks to stray will persist - Shareholders will accept lower revenues but not for long - 13th September
 * Business should tune out the rhetoric of US justice - Burst of accusations raises the question of whether regulators have murky motives - 8th September
 * Protect the virtue of exchange traded funds - There has yet to be a disaster but people are no longer clear about how they are investing - 6th September
 * Jenkins takes Barclays at the right time - Those appointed at the bottom of the cycle tend to do well - 1st September
 * The financial system rests on quicksand - Reform of money market funds should be an open-and-shut case - 30th August
 * If funds lack conviction it’s their own fault - “The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are filled with passionate intensity,” wrote W.B. Yeats in The Second Coming. He wasn’t referring to anything as prosaic as investing but the words fit - 5th August
 * NBC shows perfect logic but a prime time farce - Doing something so ridiculous, even on financial grounds, takes its toll on the broadcaster’s credibility - 1st August
 * The banking firemen won’t prevent fires breaking out - While supervisors grapple with bankers encouraged to break the rules, they will struggle - 26th July
 * Trading floor culture no longer acceptable - It would take a fierce assault by a new set of leaders and by regulators to have much impact - 5th July
 * The gathering storm - Flaws in banking fuel the case for structural and cultural reform. By Patrick Jenkins, John Gapper and Brooke Masters - 30th June
 * Murdoch the magician is running out of tricks - Splitting News Corp is a heart-wrenching move for the mogul - 28th June
 * Narcissists or psychopaths? Why bosses go bad - The nastiest conclusion is that the norms and expectations of the corporate elite are corrupt - 21st June
 * Excessive CEO pay rarely rewards investors - Excluding those with leadership potential and including only the incumbents distorts prices - 14th June
 * Corzine’s first sin was to bet on MF Global - The broker-dealer was one of Wall Street’s also-rans that only survived as long as it did thanks to luck and good timing - 7th June
 * Bankia fiasco carries the same old lessons - The Spanish caja’s crisis is a result of over-leverage, a commercial property bubble, poor supervision and hubris - 31st May
 * Murdoch’s crisis goes beyond the family - A reputational crisis in the UK could turn into a broader corporate challenge - 24th May
 * The Occupy Handbook - Janet Byrne has assembled a rewarding collection of essays on the Occupy Wall Street movement - 21st May
 * JPMorgan fiasco exposes the myth of the imperial CEO - Neither shareholders nor regulators ought to be happy for Dimon to wield undivided power - 17th May
 * Dimon is a whale of a hedge fund manager - Risky bets are in the nature of the financial beast - 12th May
 * Law firms have struck the limits of partnership - Legal businesses can no longer borrow and make rash promises to force their way to the top tier - 10th May
 * Pharma needs an injection of financial engineering - By using CDOs to aid medical research, Wall Street might improve its image - 3rd May
 * What politicians lost to Murdoch - The News Corp chief has unbalanced the relationship between the media and government - 26th April
 * Argentina’s oil raid can only end badly - The seizure is extreme, badly timed and unlikely to address the country’s key complaint - 19th April
 * Facebook is scared of the internet - The $1bn purchase of Instagram shows Mark Zuckerberg is worried by growing threats to his social network’s dominance - 12th April
 * City is right to crack whip on market abuse - The FSA is displaying a salutary determination to end casual sharing of insider information - 5th April
 * China must stop its poor-country pretence - The rare earths case shows how credibility gained from the Made in China policy has expired - 15th March
 * Business should help the heartland - While it is rational for multinationals to move capacity offshore, the collective effect imperils the fabric of US society - 8th March
 * London must scare insider traders - UK should reconsider use of phone-tap evidence - 1st March
 * Wynn raises the stakes in Las Vegas - Tussle with Okada casts a poor light on Nevada’s corporate law - 23rd February
 * Don’t put venture capital at risk - The industry is on the same threshold that both banking and private equity crossed before, with unintended consequences - 9th February
 * Facebook ought to ditch its public offering - The sole tangible purpose for this IPO cash is to meet a tax obligation triggered by going public - 3rd February
 * A beacon of US power and ambition - Oliver Zunz has written a new history that charts the constant evolution in the ways American citizens give to good causes - 2nd February
 * Money shovers can live without tax perks - Low rate on carried interest is no longer defensible - 26th January
 * Halt the Silicon Valley histrionics - Blackouts and scaremongering by websites over piracy act is self-defeating - 19th January
 * The dollar lifestyle of the Swiss central banker - The Caesars of monetary policy must be above suspicion - 14th January
 * The smart technology loser folds - Kodak provides a lesson for companies in the grip of technological change - 12th January
 * China’s princelings should not rule alone - Beijing’s leadership contest matters more than the eccentric Republican primary - 5th January



Articles: 2011

 * Confessions of a British tabloid newspaper reporter - It used to amaze me how many people would invite me into their houses and spill the beans - 22nd December
 * Don’t make Amazon a monopoly - It is not the job of antitrust officials to hand Amazon back its monopoly - 15th December
 * Let rating agencies have their say - Aside from being tactless, I cannot see what S&P did wrong - 8th December
 * What makes a rogue trader? - To know what goes on in the mind of a Nick Leeson or a Jérôme Kerviel – it helps to be a bird-watcher - 3rd December
 * Judge Rakoff is just doing his job - Even some of the judge’s critics admit that he is fighting the good fight - 1st November
 * Greenberg is entitled to nothing - Former AIG executive’s suit against the US government is wrong - 24th November
 * A better way to occupy Wall Street - John Gapper on how the protesters can leave a permanent mark - 17th November
 * Olympus’s deceit was dishonourable - Misbehaviour has put at risk a company with a distinguished camera brand - 10th November
 * Emperor Corzine’s Goldman clothes - Once upon a time, there was an emperor who had been thrown out of the kingdom of New Jersey and was seeking another place to rule - 3rd November
 * Olympus shows Japan’s negative side - It is time for a change. If its chairman will not make it, and his board puts personal loyalty above investors, Japan suffers - 20th October
 * Don’t boot out tomorrow’s Nobels - Students from India and China are finding it harder to stay in the US - 13th October
 * In praise of Wall Street protesters - In the face of political stasis in Congress, this is a perverse demonstration that people can get along and agree on things - 6th October
 * An inventor with Fire in his belly and Jobs in his sights - Amazon tablet marks ambitious strategy change, write John Gapper and Barney Jopson - 1st October
 * The best way to tackle the Big Four - It would be better to encourage the emergence of new competitors to the biggest firms through ownership and anti-trust measures - 29th September
 * Innovators don’t ignore customers - Customers don’t care about corporate structures, cash flows, technologies and growth ratings. They care about service - 22nd September
 * Revolt over risks of elite class of bankers - A mismatch of assets and liabilities lies at the heart of global finance - 17th September
 * The conflict of interest in free news - No matter how loudly people protest that they have safeguards in place, conflicting interests lead to abuses - 15th September
 * China’s migrant workers expect more - Beijing must not only restructure its economy but also loosen the grip of the Communist party on financial resources - 8th September
 * It is right to curtail web anonymity - The policy that people are free to interact online anonymously is under fire - 1st September
 * banking behemoth in need of charisma, capital and clout'' - John Gapper on Bank of America’s chief executive - 27th August
 * should have avoided a big bang'' - The chief executive should have taken things steadily - 25th August
 * turbulent jobs flight'' - US manufacturing has a good story to tell but it is about technology and productivity rather than jobs for the millions - 27th July
 * best way for Rupert Murdoch to leave'' - News Corp needs a new chairman who can recruit new directors and provide the oversight its executives need - 21st July
 * Corp is all about the family'' - No one pretends it is managed according to any other principle than what Rupert Murdoch wants - 14th July
 * reeks of self-interest'' - As dramatic coups go, Rupert Murdoch’s decision to close the News of the World, a 168-year-old title and the first UK newspaper he bought in 1969, while backing both his son James and Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, ranks with his abandonment of Fleet Street for Wapping in 1986 - 7th July
 * Street is not above the law'' - Rupert Murdoch’s tabloids and others believed they would be protected from discovery or discipline - 7th July
 * York treated Strauss-Kahn roughly but he got justice'' - There were two traps in his case and the authorities fell into neither - 2nd July
 * make it easy for hackers'' - Cleaning up past software errors is time-consuming and difficult but none of it is beyond the corporate grasp - 30th June
 * price of Wall Street’s black box'' - As long as the structure encourages it, investment banks will place their interests above those of their clients - 23rd June
 * Bono didn’t save Spider-Man'' - How the U2 spirit went missing on Broadway - 16th June
 * is at a loss to justify itself'' - Investors are invited on a wild and unpredictable ride - 9th June
 * better way to run internet IPOs'' - Companies need to attract institutions that plan to hold the shares for the long term - 2nd June
 * it is right to fight web pirates'' - An over-aggressive crackdown on internet piracy and illegal copying will not be in the interests of anyone - 26th May
 * close the lid on bank fraud'' - It beggars belief that crimes were not committed on Wall Street in the last days of the mortgage bubble - 19th May
 * must simplify for speed'' - Steve Ballmer has set himself too broad a challenge - 12th May
 * commodity billionaires face their reckoning'' - Commodity groups are vulnerable to swings in market sentiment - 7th May
 * news from Abbottabad'' - New ways to filter and monitor information from countries such as Egypt and Libya are springing up - 5th May
 * debt to China’s women'' - They enabled the country to become the manufacturing hub for the world - 28th April
 * chiefs can be wiser than one'' - When power-sharing works it can have real and lasting value - 21st April
 * banks will not wield their power forever'' - Sir John Vickers is handing Bob Diamond enough rope to hang himself - 14th April
 * needs to stop flying solo'' - Mr Buffett and Charlie Munger, his sidekick, operate like the Beverly Hillbillies of global finance - 7th April
 * the networks bubble over'' - Late-stage investors should pause for thought - 31st March
 * no to AT&T’s mobile monopoly'' - The provider is on its way to replicating in mobile the power it exerts in fixed-line telephony and broadband - 24th March
 * the lessons of the Renault affair'' - In the age of cyber-espionage, companies must stop their secrets walking out of the door. But they cannot trample over the law or their employees - 17th March
 * model springs a leak'' - The scandal goes to the heart of the consultancy’s identity and reputation - 10th March
 * are only part of the enterprise'' - The most vital job in an organisation lies somewhere between the creatives and the business people - 3rd March
 * American shipping lines'' - There are few such clear examples of an entire industry being blighted by trade protectionism as the US merchant marine fleet - 24th February
 * is more to an exchange than a name'' - The attraction of a merger for the NYSE - 17th February
 * is right to take the cash'' - The squeeze on the middle market in media does not bode well for AOL’s new acquisition - 10th February
 * or import the new entrepreneurs'' - US innovation challenge in relation to Asia is human - 3rd February
 * Murdochs turn a media crisis into a family drama'' - Even Rupert Murdoch cannot live forever and that is becoming a significant investment risk - 29th January
 * Fannie and Freddie off the road'' - Obama can dare to dream of a free mortgage finance market - 27th January



Articles: 2010

 * bets for a better year for business in 2011'' - Despite all the uncertainty, business should be optimistic about what next year holds - 30th December
 * Colossus'' - HW Brands delivers a lively and panoramic account of the rise of US capitalism and how the surge of industrialisation transformed a continent - 23rd December
 * was Wall Street’s problem'' - The scandal provides plenty of evidence of corner-cutting and the turning of blind eyes in a quest for revenues - 16th December
 * takes a short-cut to power'' - China is hastening its advance by digesting others’ intellectual property. This is not as effective as real innovation - 9th December
 * the iPad should rival the web'' - Two great media minds think alike - 2nd December
 * Feds must cast their net widely'' - Digging out facts is not illegal nor unethical in itself - 25th November
 * Russia with love and money'' - John Gapper on why Yuri Milner is popular - 18th November
 * is not Silicon Valley’s judge'' - The Oracle chief’s accusations against Hewlett-Packard’s Léo Apotheker are overblown - 11th November
 * should never have been'' - Guy Hands’ error in going to court over his dispute with Citigroup extended beyond the fact that his case was thin, for it also made him look incompetent - 5th November
 * turn back on financial reform'' - Republicans should focus on reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rather than a fundamental rewrite of the Dodd-Frank act - 4th November
 * must learn to love business'' - The US president has failed to see the role big business plays in remoulding the economy and creating high-skilled jobs - 28th October
 * business elite is free enough'' - A week-long tour of China’s elite turns up little evidence of rebellion - 21st October
 * best bet to curb too big to fail'' - All countries should have clear resolution regimes - 14th October
 * is a symptom of a banking malaise'' - The rogue trader is usually not motivated by greed - 7th October
 * is not a punk’s drama'' - Entrepreneurs do not create companies by being lone geniuses but by deploying the skills of others - 30th September
 * Germany’s problem banks'' - They are bloated institutions that rely heavily on wholesale funding - 23rd September
 * made the right sacrifice'' - Letting Lehman Brothers fail was a gamble worth taking - 16th September
 * Diamond in a rough business'' - The outcry over Bob Diamond’s appointment as symbolising the rise of “casino banking” is not fair on the man himself - 9th September
 * funds should cool it on tax'' - Tempting as it is to single out Wall Street, it is not justified - 2nd September
 * crash at General Motors'' - The US motor group has burned through four chief executives in 18 months - 19th August
 * need competition rather than confusing deals'' - Internet neutrality was always a slippery concept, which may account for the fact that news of a potential deal between Google and Verizon was greeted with uncertainty - 6th August
 * the spies from our computers'' - Our lives are already stored in our machines; we do not want the secret police in there too - 5th August
 * world’s banks take a holiday from regulation'' - New standards for capital and liquidity have been diluted - 31st July
 * need to be more creative'' - Super-agent Andrew Wylie is right when he says print publishers must be more astute - 29th July
 * and Libya – a special relationship?'' - What difference is there between a company paying a bribe and a government striking a dirty political deal - 22nd July
 * should not prescribe pills'' - Regulators are there because decisions over the risks and benefits of drugs are difficult - 15th July
 * mobile winner will not take all'' - The smartphone, along with the tablet computer, is coming of age, pulling attention away from desktop computers - 8th July
 * therapy for troubled European banks'' - If stress tests reveal big capital shortages, governments might need to step in - 3rd July
 * copyright and make it stick'' - Publishers should be willing to offer shorter, narrower terms to regain legitimacy - 1st July
 * not to salvage a reputation, at BP and beyond'' - Not everything Tony Hayward did was wrong, and nor was poor public relations the only cause of his downfall. His fate was sealed when BP’s early plans to cap its well failed, leaving oil still spewing - 25th June
 * has become the new tobacco'' - Corporations’ reserves make them ‘deep pockets’ - 17th June
 * has to become an elitist'' - For newspapers to compete with free online general news, they will have to become more focused with rarer information - 27th May
 * in the News: Gordon Gekko'' -The fictional embodiment of financial excess has returned for a second act - 22nd May
 * perverse European fund strategy'' - The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive is protectionist, prescriptive and perverse - 20th May
 * open disdain for privacy'' - The social networking site needs to regain trust - 13th May
 * Edge: On the money in the crash of 2.45pm'' - Since the 2008 crash, when markets fluctuated wildly on rumours of bail-outs, bouts of intense and short-lived financial volatility are becoming common - 8th May
 * is drilling itself into deep water'' - The blow-up is an example of the dangers that oil ‘supermajors’ face by drilling in such difficult spots - 6th May
 * to rein in the ratings agencies'' - Any reform that would loosen their grip on bond markets deserves a shot - 29th April
 * is not good for Goldman'' - The bank’s greed and the threat from the SEC case - 21st April
 * short story of a star hedge fund'' - The hedge fund Magnetar has been criticised for shorting a subprime boom it helped to create - 15th April
 * iPad’s scary counter-revolution'' - This is the digital future, whether publishers like it or not - 8th April
 * has the measure of the banks'' - why the plan by Paul Volcker, where the government will directly attack the size and complexity of over-mighty institutions, offers the best chance to address the structural problem posed by the banks - 28th January
 * flaw of banking on brand recognition'' - Long-established western companies still have cachet in emerging markets, but they must adapt and be able to make cheaper products in order to succeed in the Brics - 21st January
 * for news or bleed red ink'' - Although online readership falls when subscription is imposed, metering or similar ‘freemium’ models help publishers to more than make up for it. Not only do they gain subscription revenues, but they can raise advertising rates to their core customer - 21st January
 * long haul for Detroit’s new prince'' - Short-term recovery is not the same as long-term prosperity, and Fiat-Chrysler’s prospects of achieving the latter look dim. Sergio Marchionne, its self-confident chief executive, may be an expert player, but his cards are weak - 14th January
 * open battle with Apple'' - In the battle for the mobile internet, the latest fight is over how closed systems are, both companies understand when to open up, and when to remain closed, no matter what they espouse publicly - 7th January



Articles: 2009

 * of risk who did God’s work for Goldman Sachs but won it little love'' - Lloyd Blankfein, the financier who is the FT Person of the Year, heads Wall Street’s most powerful institution, but he still has to prove himself in the market of public opinion - 24th December
 * America let banks off the leash'' - This week, the last two large banks to receive capital injections from the US government at the height of the crisis in October 2008 agreed their exit with the Treasury - 17th December
 * stakes out a place in space'' - Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic service deserves to be taken seriously because it makes financial sense. The more that people pay privately to experience some of the thrills that astronauts have enjoyed, the greater the potential for Nasa to focus on grander projects - 10th December
 * guys gain little from merging'' - Comcast’s expected $30bn bid for NBC Universal is complex and unjustified, writes John Gapper. The rest of the media industry has given up on efforts to show that the merged whole can be greater than the sum of the parts, and Comcast should too - 3rd December
 * healthy appetite for the right price'' - The Cadbury takeover battle shows the advantages of the UK system. The City’s focus on price allows investors to make up their own minds without being stymied by directors. A sound outcome is more likely than in the murky US alternative - 26th November
 * Wall St family was torn apart by greed and jealousy'' - Charlie Gasparino, author of ‘The Sellout’, was as close as anyone to the Street’s big, wayward figures before they met their downfall - 19th November
 * to reinvent China's gtowth'' - China faces a complex and perilous transition phase as it tries to transform from a middle-income, high-growth, very big developing economy into an advanced economy with a diversified industrial bas - 19th November
 * will relish a battle over online pay walls'' - He talks of cracking down on ‘content kleptomaniacs’, but has not yet secured his doors against them - 14th November
 * not to take care of a brand'' - Amputations from a stroller?! By the time Farzad Rastegar, chief executive of Maclaren in the US, had lunch with John Gapper in New York on Tuesday, he sounded shaken. Maclaren has done a poor job of telling its story. What are the lessons for companies facing similar crises? - 12th November
 * signals from Buffett’s train deal'' - Buying a railroad is a sound way to gain cash dividends, and broad exposure to companies that need coal and freight, but not to invest in innovation. Is the $27bn BNSF deal the ultimate symbol not only of Warren Buffett’s investment style but also of how he sees his country - 5th November
 * three-way split is the most logical'' - By insisting on the break-up of the ING Group into its banking and insurance divisions – and on it divesting its US direct savings arm – EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes set a welcome precedent this week. But will any country be brave enough to enact a Kroes-like split on financial institutions - 29th October
 * reach'' - Investment: As a New York hedge fund chief faces charges of insider dealing, a case that also involves IBM, Intel and McKinsey executives is causing shock well beyond the world of finance - 26th October
 * reach'' - Investment: As a New York hedge fund chief faces charges of insider dealing, a case that also involves IBM, Intel and McKinsey executives is causing shock well beyond the world of finance - 24th October
 * should be allowed to fail'' - It might sap some resentment if taxpayers could see that Goldman’s bonuses were a form of equity partnership, and that the bank would be allowed to founder in any future crisis - 22nd October
 * credibility problem for Goldman'' - Having taken government money to survive the crash, Goldman Sachs is in such rude health that it will be handing out billions in bonuses. There is much outrage that the US bank wants to carry on as its old self (but bigger) in a world that has changed - 15th October
 * death of the media mogul'' - There may be someone out there who will become the 21st-century equivalent of Bertelsmann’s Reinhard Mohn, a modest entrepreneur who crossed technological and social boundaries to create a media empire. But we shall not see his like again - 8th October
 * up the future of futures'' - Banks have found corporate allies in their battle to stop the tough new rules proposed for derivatives, including demanding that standard contracts are traded on an exchange. But they must not be allowed to derail the regulations - 1st October
 * there’s a will there’s a way'' - Banks should write their own living wills, making them safer in life and easier to dispose of in death - 24th September
 * the leviathans of finance'' - It is necessary to have tough restrictions on systemically important banks deemed ‘too big to fail’ and impose a much bigger regulatory ‘tax’ on large banks than small ones, through higher capital charges and stricter limits on leverage - 23rd July
 * A pugnacious pundit Wall Street can’t ignore - John Gapper meets Charlie Gasparino, the CNBC reporter who has broken many stories about the financial crisis, and discovers why everybody listens when he talks - 17th July
 * laptops snap at the oligopoly'' - The Asus Eee and rival netbooks made by Taiwan companies have converted consumers and caused havoc in the personal computer industry, reducing revenues and margins at both software and hardware companies - 16th July
 * Digger blags his way into the headlines'' - Rupert Murdoch has been hit by accusations of phone-hacking by his British tabloids, hurting the reputation he has been building in the US through proper journalism at The Wall Street Journal - 11th July
 * banks look to rainmakers again'' - Investment banks are hitting back at boutiques by giving top performers the status they crave, as the growing complexity of deals means more seasoned advisers are needed. But don’t expect it to last - 9th July
 * sentence is both necessary and rare'' - The 71-year-old fraudster conduct was indefensible and he deserved what he got. But the case was unusual. The question is whether Bernard Madoff’s spectacular sentence should become the benchmark for future cases of corporate fraud. I think not - 2nd July
 * victims have their moment but the suffering continues'' - After Monday, there will be no more court hearings to attend and Mr Madoff will disappear into a high security prison for life. The victims will be left with a long, frustrating battle to try to recover some of their money - 30th June
 * avoids the pain of competition'' - It seems odd that companies can gain an advantage by working with others and by sharing knowledge. Yet being part of a network not only can help a company to gain from others’ knowledge but also can reinforce its market position, as Apple’s contest with Palm shows - 25th June
 * is for revolution (and repression)'' - Technology gets a bad rap in the old media. In books and films, it is often the machinery used by governments to crush individuality - 20th June
 * hidden cost of free vaccines'' - One-off gifts of childhood vaccines can cause more harm than good. Developing countries obtain far greater benefits from being offered guaranteed low prices for a vaccine over several years, enabling them to plan vaccination properly - 17th June
 * warriors head for Washington'' - We are about to observe the next phase in the government’s attempt to stabilise the US financial system. It is about to launch its effort to reform the notoriously tangled and overlapping system of financial regulation. It is vital to get this right - 11th June
 * Motors goes to the garage'' - Chapter 11 gives chief executive Fritz Henderson room to manoeuvre in stripping down GM’s balance sheet, curbing its healthcare and pension liabilities and closing reluctant dealers. But can he remould GM for the long-term, rather than just foster a cyclical revival - 4th June (See: GM: the bankruptcy process)
 * not cutting prices becomes a luxury'' - Discounting can exact a terrible price, as the imminent bankruptcy of General Motors shows. The company was the king of price-discounting even in the good times. But luxury and premium brands have grown so much that their owners cannot choose from a menu of cutting costs, output or prices. All are required - 28th May
 * Alpha asks searching questions of the web'' - For years, there has been little competition in the business of enabling people to find out things on the web: Google led and a bunch of its would-be rivals lagged behind. Suddenly, however, internet search is becoming lively again - 23rd May (See: Wolfram|Alpha)
 * will dodge Obama’s fuel rules'' - Barack Obama’s complex intervention is an inefficient – and probably ineffective – way of meeting the twin aims he has set for the US motor industry: to curb fuel consumption and dependence on foreign oil and help the Detroit three “once more outcompete the world” - 21st May
 * the right buyer for your paper'' - Two astute wheeler-dealers – Carlos Slim, the Mexican media mogul, and David Geffen, the Hollywood big shot – have their eyes on The New York Times. But, with the share price close to an all-time low, is it time for the Ochs-Sulzberger family to sell? - 14th May
 * banks learnt to play the system'' - The results of the US stress tests are a harsh judgment on the biggest US banks and a damning verdict on Basel and two decades of capital adequacy regulation. We must learn the lesson that banks faced with new balance sheet rules will strive to evade those rules - 7th May
 * Avenue feels the squeeze'' - Today’s face-off between the people in suits – media planning agencies – and advertising’s creatives is fuelled by recession rather than growth, and the internet rather than television, with clients demanding extra work – such as digital campaigns – for the same money - 30th April
 * Edge: Maestros, mitts and the best laid plans'' - the vagaries of pitches, stadiums and concert halls - 25th April
 * brands now rise in the east'' - For a long time, global products have been made in the image of what US consumers wanted, or dreamed. But a shift in consumer buying power towards emerging markets is helping the spread of eastern products and altering how western groups develop and market global brands - 23rd April
 * set Goldman free, Mr Geithner'' - Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein wants his institution to pay back the $10bn in taxpayer money it took last autumn when its future looked dicey. It could then go back to paying employees what it wants and buying and selling what it fancies. He is peddling an illusion - 16th April
 * good to get behind the wheel'' - Most of the US auto industry’s problems were caused not by the nature of cars but standard-issue mismanagement, tolerated for decades. The inability, or unwillingness, of shareholders to enforce clearly needed changes is also found elsewhere - 2nd April
 * need to share the bail-out bill'' - One thing we have learnt in the past year is that some banks are definitely too big to fail. We may yet discover something even more disturbing: that some are too big to save - 26th March
 * reinvents the trader’s option'' - For the taxpayer, it is a travesty to be forced to pay additional bonuses to the wreakers of havoc. But for the financial institutions involved in credit derivatives, it is even worse than that – a humiliation that should compel them to change the way they pay people - 19th March
 * case for a Glass-Steagall ‘lite’'' - There are sound reasons to impose some kind of split between buy side and sell side in the financial services industry. It is wrong to jump from doubting the usefulness or practicality of reimposing the Glass-Steagall Act to rejecting any such structural reform - 12th March
 * long in the spaceship, Hank'' - Hank Greenberg, the former AIG chief executive, has chutzpah. Having presided for decades over a vast and impenetrable insurance company-cum-hedge fund that the American government has spent many billions of dollars bailing out, he feels hard done by - 5th March 2009
 * Murdochs’ generation gap'' - Rupert Murdoch’s best response to the simmering discontent over the problems at News Corporation would be to set some sort of timetable for him stepping down. But there is still no sign of it happening - 26th February
 * stumped by their own ego'' - When a single figure not only controls a financial institution but embodies it, investors should be wary. Banks that keep the ambitions and egos of individuals in check by making them work with, and under the eyes of, others have a fair chance of detecting fraud - 19th February
 * Lear proves the point: listen to that whistleblower'' - In many cases, managers to whom a whistleblower complains are not at fault but dismiss the complaint as wrong or overblown - 14th February
 * help the banking system'' - The US Treasury secretary is a good conciliator. Geithner’s years at the New York Federal Reserve have taught him how to stroke politicians. But his challenges are just starting. Wednesday’s thrashing of Wall Street bankers was an appetiser for Congress - 12th February
 * a few bankers’ earnings is a small price'' - Barack Obama’s decision to impose a salary cap of $500,000 on the senior executives of financial institutions, including Wall Street banks, that need public money to prop themselves up is rough justice - 5th February
 * and the spirit of mutual misunderstanding'' - This year’s forum showed what happens when the world economy ceases to finance global co-operation and goodwill - 31st January
 * humbling of Davos Man'' - The credit crisis turned out to be Wall Street’s hurricane Katrina. It transpired financiers had no idea of the risks they were taking and could not stop their banks sinking in a storm. If they cannot do their own job, why should we let them do anything else - 29th January
 * is not a panacea'' - Governments are bad owners for banks. They are conflicted because, although politicians like to castigate bankers for risk-taking, they also push them to lend freely. Also, a full public recapitalisation in the US or UK would be enormously costly - 22nd January
 * must recruit a zombie-slayer'' - The fear is that the US government will take control of bank to stop it becoming a 1990s Japanese-style zombie bank, drifting from crisis to crisis with inadequate capital in a swamp of bad loans and toxic securities. Welcome to the job, Mr Parsons - 15th January
 * of funds have to work harder'' - Two decades ago, most hedge funds obtained most of their funds from individuals and family trusts. Now, there are many more funds to deal with and institutional money is encroaching. Funds of funds must show they contribute something valuable - 8th January



Articles: 2008

 * in 2009: On the bright side, the chocolate-makers will be fine'' - Businesses face depressed demand and credit difficulties, and banks are unpopular with taxpayers who bailed them out - 30th December 2008
 * Street insiders and fools’ gold'' - People lined up to entrust their savings to Bernie Madoff. Many got a tip from a friend or adviser about a Wall Street operator with a great record. No one thought he was operating a Ponzi scheme but plenty thought he had an unfair advantage - 18th December 2008 (Summary of Bernard Madoff news articles here)
 * cannot improvise our way out of trouble'' - By giving cash to companies that are in the worst trouble and have the most political clout, governments are in danger of investing their money badly - 13th December 2008
 * will mourn local newspapers?'' - On Monday, the Tribune Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, filed for bankruptcy. The New York Times Company followed by saying it might mortgage its Renzo Piano-designed headquarters building to reduce debt - 11th December 2008
 * funds are going down with dignity'' - Instead of asking for government support, managers have been taking their punishment - 6th December 2008
 * to give something back, Bob'' - Robert Rubin needs to find a way to make up for his part in Citi’s downfall. My suggestion is that, in addition to giving up his bonus for this year and last, he returns the bonuses he got in 2005 and 2006, when Citi’s risk-taking ratcheted up - 4th December 2008
 * is just another risk for Buffett'' - On the face of it, Warren Buffett’s deal to write $35bn of put options on equity markets looks both unwise and uncharacteristic. But we should not be shocked. For several decades he has proved to be exceptionally good at taking big financial risks - 27th November 2008
 * perils of having a passionate helmsman'' - What Jerry Yang thought was right for Yahoo turned out not to be, and his enthusiasm for the enterprise he built, which he thought could flourish independently, was misguided. Sometimes a company requires a dispassionate leader - 20th November 2008
 * tries to fool them again'' - Washington should insist GM takes over Chrysler, reducing the big three to two. The US would get a smaller and stronger industry and competitors would be less crowded out by the US taxpayer - 13th November 2008
 * executive or business-basher?'' - The president-elect looks and talks like a brilliant chief executive. But is that the real Barack Obama? - 6th November 2008
 * Drudge loses his grip on US media!'' - Just as Fleet Street swings left and right politically, depending on where it sees its commercial advantage, the US media have shifted left for a time, to mimic what they judge to be the country’s mood. When that mood swings back, so will the media - 30th October 2008
 * rogue system with lax limits on risk-taking'' - In this crisis, whatever turns out to have occurred at Caisse d’Epargne, companies and banks bear responsibility - 24th October 2008
 * was right to look and learn'' - Mr Bush and Mr Paulson were forced to accept that they were either with European governments or the markets would be against them - 16th October 2008
 * real end of big bonuses'' - There will now be two kinds of Wall Street employer: safe and decently paid or risky and highly paid - 11th October 2008
 * blame lies closer to home'' - We home buyers and mortgage borrowers share the blame for the subprime mortgage mess, whether we are American, British or Icelandic - 9th October 2008
 * fatal banker’s fall'' - It is hard to imagine Wall Street dusting itself off and getting back to business as usual this time. Bankers’ unpopularity has been propelled to greater heights than before - 2nd October 2008
 * is good for Goldman . . .'' - Goldman partners are not only smarter than the average Wall Street bear, but often turn up in “public service”. The next president should recruit from elsewhere - 25th September 2008
 * men must put themselves together again'' - Humpty Dumpty seems an apt metaphor for the global financial system, which has fallen down and cannot get back up on its own - 20th September 2008
 * This greed was beyond irresponsible - I have a fine seat in the FT’s New York office looking down the canyon of Sixth Avenue towards the banks of Midtown. From my perch, I have watched the flabbergasting events of the past week - 17th September 2008
 * last gasp of the broker-dealer'' - Sunday marked not only the end of Lehman Brothers and the surrender of Merrill Lynch but also the end of a banking era - 16th September 2008
 * tragedy of hubris and nemesis'' - Dick Fuld reformed Lehman, but he never changed from the the dark and obstinate loyalist. In the end, his pride and obstinacy stood in the way of its desperate efforts in the past half year to right itself - 15th September 2008
 * this weekend off, Hank'' - Paulson has done his best to keep the dollar strong and financial confidence intact. The US Treasury secretary must now allow events to take their course - 11th September 2008
 * launches Microsoft’s big fear'' - Microsoft’s founder turned his company upside down 15 years ago because he grasped what the internet might do. The unveiling of Chrome shows his instincts were good - 4th September 2008
 * will see you read this'' - Most people know vaguely that companies use technology to track browsing habits but are unaware of the scale and penetration of these techniques. It is harder than it should be to opt out of being tracked by advertising networks or search engines - 14th August 2008
 * Sony lost the battle of the e-book'' - 7th August 2008
 * Corporate culture shock is a big deal - Many mergers fail and those between companies from different nations, with different legal systems, customers, investors and cultures, are notoriously risky. But what seem like national tensions are often corporate ones in disguise - 31st July 2008
 * Why the U-turn is a high-risk tactic - When a big company takes over a small one, the acquirer insists its new subsidiary will be left alone. Then, one day, the leash becomes shorter - 24th July 2008
 * Short-selling reveals corporate realities - 19th July 2008
 * America's air force misses the target - Unlike the Joint Strike Fighter programme, the US will not share the F-22 with its allies because it wants to keep hold of the technology. However, it does not want to buy many of the aircraft either, which has made each fighter absurdly expensive - 16th July 2008
 * Yahoo must call time on Jerry Yang - There has not been a lot of consensus in the bizarre, prolonged battle for control of Yahoo but all the participants are united in one belief: do not trust the other guy - 9th July 2008
 * British consumers face their retail reckoning - There is an evocative scene in The Ice Age, Margaret Drabble’s novel about the 1974 property crash, in which Len Wincobank, a property developer who has been sent to jail for fraud, longingly remembers the marvellous food he used to eat - 4th July 2008
 * The record labels can take a punch - It was a sparky Glastonbury Festival this year. Not only did Jay-Z defy the indie-anthem-loving crowd but Amy Winehouse waded into the audience and punched a fan - 2nd July 2008
 * Bickering will never feed the world - Long-running feuds often go quiet for a while but it takes only one incident to make them flare up again. So it is with the argument between exponents of organic farming and those who prefer technology-intensive, industrialised agriculture - 12th June 2008
 * The Panglossian approach to debt - As the US continues to flirt with recession and banks face credit downgrades and a rumbling crisis of confidence, one bunch of financial institutions is doing quite nicely, thank you - 4th June 2008
 * A Sex and the City guide to the entertainment industry - It may not take a lot to make the New York Post, Rupert Murdoch’s city tabloid, grumpy but the four actresses of Sex and the City, the new film of the television series, certainly provoked it this week - 14th May 2008
 * On the pot-holed highway to hell - If anyone doubts the problems of US infrastructure, I suggest he or she take a flight to John F. Kennedy airport (braving the landing delay), ride a taxi on the pot-holed and congested Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and try to make a mobile phone call en route - 8th May 2008
 * The return of high-risk optimism - Only at the Milken Institute Global Conference would one song played between financial debates be Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”: “Don’t worry ’bout a thing, ’cause every little thing gonna be all right.” - 1st May 2008
 * A good name sliced, diced and traded - Farewell, Marcel Ospel. The former UBS chairman did not seek re-election to the board of the Swiss bank at its annual general meeting on Tuesday. It was just as well since, after $37bn (£19bn) in subprime-related losses, he might not have survived - 24th April 2008
 * The airlines merger that will not fly - When a business venture is declared to be good for everyone – even those with widely differing interests – it often turns out not to be particularly good for anyone - 17th April 2008
 * It is time for reflection, not regulation on banking - We are at a moment of peril for financial markets - 27th March 2008
 * Why Bear’s bankers should do penance this Easter - The words “suffering” and “banker” do not go together often. But the rescue of Bear Stearns, the Wall Street investment bank, this week, is a rare case of their collision - 22nd March 2008
 * How Bear aided its own demise - When the going gets tough, the tough get going. That is the cliché about surviving crises. It is not: When the going gets tough, the tough go to Detroit to play bridge - 20th March 2008
 * How the fighter knocked himself out - There was a cruel thrill about being in Manhattan on Monday afternoon, as the jaw-dropping news of Eliot Spitzer's links to the Emperors Club prostitution ring emerged - 13th March 2008
 * Creative types must face the music - The late 20th century was a very good time to run a studio or a label in a media company. Apart from having a lot of freedom and being paid a lot of money, executives and producers could hang out with artists and feel creative themselves - 6th March 2008
 * Opening the windows on Microsoft - Andrew Grove, former chief executive of Intel, popularised the Silicon Valley motto: "Only the paranoid survive." In the preface to his book of that title he wrote: "The more successful you are, the more people want a chunk of your business, and then another chunk, and then another, until there is nothing left." - 28th February 2008
 * The top 10 Northern Rock losers - There are no winners from the British government’s decision this week to nationalise Northern Rock, the mortgage lender. There is, however, an embarrassment of losers - 21st February 2008
 * In defence of the investment bankers - The last British experiment with government wage controls was in the late 1960s, when the National Board for Prices and Incomes was given the task of assuaging the doubts of international bankers (the “gnomes of Zurich”) and staving off a sterling crisis by capping wage increases - 14th February 2008
 * Haze may obscure Microsoft’s path - In these volatile times, not many companies are willing to launch hostile bids for others and even fewer will back their hunch with $44bn. So Microsoft deserves the thanks of idle investment bankers and a nod from the rest of us - 7th February 2008
 * The crazy world of the superstar encourages risk - In recent days we have witnessed two men taking leave of their senses. In one case, however, there was method to the madness - 31st January 2008
 * Recession fears fail to damp party mood at Davos - 24th January 2008
 * Likeness to Barings is striking - It has been difficult to find an optimist in Davos this week, or at least an optimist who dared to speak his or her name - 24th January 2008
 * Davos Bill is tarnishing his philanthropic brand - Up here in Davos, in the mountain air, the usual philanthropic suspects have gathered for the World Economic Forum. Bono, George Soros and Bill and Melinda Gates are all here. One old hand is out of town, however: Bill Clinton, the former US president and quintessential Davos man - 24th January 2008
 * Detroit looks uneasily to the east - Most of the time, the shift in the business world's axis away from the US and towards Asia proceeds gradually enough to be imperceptible. This week there was a lurch - 17th January 2008
 * Obama still has lessons for business - Barack Obama, the 46-year-old Illinois senator, is now in a hard fight with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. But he has already achieved something with his soaring rhetoric and his promise of change in Washington: the admiration of Americans, Bill Clinton excepted - 10th January 2008
 * Lessons from Nestlé's coffee break - It is the New Year: time to make resolutions and decide which Christmas presents we actually want to keep. The best thing Santa brought this year was a gadget I want to show off to friends: not an iPod or a Wii, but a Nespresso machine - 3rd January 2008



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