Reality is finally catching up with overblown Silicon Valley rhetoric September 26, 2019 Rhetoric, the art of persuasion, was the backbone of a classical education. Today the term is more often pejorative: rhetoric is found wherever reality isn’t. No fantasy, however, can be long sustained. If rhetoric is to deliver its original purpose and persuade, it cannot escape reality for long. So Silicon Valley is discovering. For over [...]
Wework board members consider removing chief executive Adam Neumann September 22, 2019 Some Wework board members, including some tied to major investor Softbank, are planning to try to force chief executive Adam Neumann to step down, according to reports. The board of the We Company’s board could meet as soon as this week, and may consider a proposal for Neumann to become the firm’s non-executive chairman, the [...]
Wework IPO: Is the coworking giant still working for investors? September 17, 2019 Wework today revealed it will push back plans for its closely-watched initial public offering (IPO) after more and more investors gave the coworking giant the cold shoulder. Parent group We Company has been hampered by cooling investor appetite and has even reportedly slashed its planned valuation in half to $20bn (£16bn) in a bid to [...]
Media group Endeavor looks to raise $712m from float September 16, 2019 US media giant Endeavor Group today said it is looking to raise up to $712m (£573m) from its initial public offering (IPO) later this year. The company, which owns Hollywood talent agency William Morris Endeavor, said it will sell roughly 19m shares priced between $30 and $32 each. Read more: Liberty Media faces logistical nightmare [...]
African telecoms firm Helios plans second attempt at London listing September 12, 2019 African mobile network operator Helios Towers has announced plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in London, after ditching a planned listing last year that had been expected to value the company at £2bn. The operator said it plans to raise $125m (£101m) via the issue of new shares, and that existing shareholders including [...]
Wework adds woman to board after criticism ahead of IPO September 4, 2019 The We Company, which owns office space provider Wework, has said it will add a woman to its board of directors and unwind a $5.9m (£4.8m) payment to its chief executive for use of the trademarked word “we” as it prepares for an initial public offering (IPO). We Company had faced criticism from analysts over [...]
Tradeweb’s CEO on tech, China, and modernising bond markets July 24, 2019 While researching Lee Olesky, the co-founder and chief executive of the fixed-income market platform Tradeweb, I came across an article comparing him to Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos. Both started their companies in the nineties. Both set out to use the internet and ecommerce to disrupt their respective industries at a time when the idea of [...]
London equity capital markets remain resilient despite uncertainties July 8, 2019 London remained a bright spot for equity capital markets as investors shrugged off economic and political uncertainties in the first half of this year. Total funds raised in the UK in the first half of this year reached £19.2bn, up from 22 per cent in the second half of 2018. Read more: Private equity investment [...]
Funding Circle share crash ‘brutally punishes’ IPO investors July 2, 2019 Analysts have accused Funding Circle of failing to deliver on the promises of its IPO after the lender’s shares crashed today following a revenue warning. Small business lending platform Funding Circle’s shares slumped today after it halved its revenue growth projection to 20 per cent following poor demand for its loans. Read more: Funding Circle [...]
Senior women in finance call for female-led IPOs to triple July 1, 2019 Senior women from top financial institutions have called for the number of female-led businesses going public to triple by 2025. Leading women from major banks, law firms and insurance companies gathered at the opening of the London Stock Exchange this morning to call for change as part of a campaign by the WealthiHer Network. Read [...]