UPDATE Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) bites the bullet, radical transformation, new leadership, cuts 18,000 jobs.1) Why Jony Ive Chose To Leave Apple
Jony Ive will leave Apple later this year to start a new venture of his own, called LoveFrom, with Apple as his first client. No one will be taking Jony Ive's title, Chief Design Officer, a position at the center of 20 years of product development at Apple, when he leaves, says the FT.com's technology correspondent Tim Bradshaw, who talks about his exclusive interview with Jony Ive in the video above published June 28, 2019.
"To create something that's genuinely new, you have to start again and I think with great intent, you disconnect from the past."--Jony IveEditor's note: Why did Jony Ive choose to leave Apple? He simply wanted to do something new.
See also: Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook on Monday fiercely disputed a WSJ report about the departure of Jony Ive and the company's ability to uphold its commitment to innovative design.
2) Big Tech: do profits really matter?
Why are loss-making tech companies still attracting investors who are willing to wait for companies to turn a profit? FT.com video published July 1, 2019.
Note also re: fracking technology: “I'm not aware of another case of a disruptive technological change that has done so much harm to the industry that created the change ... While hundreds of billions of dollars of benefits have accrued to hundreds of millions of people, the amount of shareholder value destruction registers in the hundreds of billions of dollars ... The industry is self-destructive.”--Steve Schlotterbeck, former chief executive of EQT, a shale gas giant, at a petrochemicals conference in Pittsburgh. Editor's note: and this doesn't even begin to address fracking's health and environmental issues.
3) Investing
Stocks finished slightly lower on Friday, backing away from all-time highs hit earlier this week, after a better-than-expected employment report in June partially rolled back investors' expectations for multiple rate cuts this year.I Just Hope the Fed Doesn’t See This Jobs Report--wolfstreet.com. U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose 224,000 in June, well above market expectations of 165,000, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate edged higher to 3.7% (300,000 people entered the labor force looking for work and therefore counted as unemployed), but was still near 50-year lows. Wage growth was 3.1% year over year.
Goldman Sachs' explanation on why there is now a "bull market in almost everything"--"monetary policy" remains the main driver of risk appetite and expectations are now very bullish.
Global hedge fund liquidations exceeded launches for the third consecutive quarter as managers faced a tough capital-raising environment. About 213 funds closed in the first three months of this year, compared with 136 that opened--bloomberg.com. Editor's note: why pay the high fees?
- US Commerce Department staff told to treat Huawei like it is still blacklisted;
- U.S. Hits Back at Huawei Lawsuit--wsj.com and nytimes.com.
EU: The Eurozone’s Japanification--with the eurozone economy stuck in a low growth, low inflation and low rates environment, it's really hard not to make 'Japanification' comparisons. If we're honest, the eurozone is probably already in the thick of it, which means rates are likely to remain lower for longer and every new crisis or recession will bring the bloc closer to more Japanification--ing.com. See also French Bond Yields Slide Below Zero, Hit All Time Record Lows and Deutsche Bank's Restructuring Plan To Cost Staggering €5 Billion--zerohedge.com; German prosecutors are escalating a money laundering inquiry involving Deutsche Bank, including planned raids on wealthy former clients, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told reuters.com.
There is the ongoing economic misery across Europe. Most of the economy remains stalled – and there are signs it could get worse ... I am not anti-European, but I think it’s about to go through a slow implosion. There is an increasing likelihood Europe becomes largely detached and delinked from the US and other Occidental economies, and irrelevant to the growth economies of the Orient. From a trade perspective, I suspect we’d [UK] be better off outside [the European Union]--Bill Blain.See also How Does the European Union Work? The EU’s authority has steadily expanded as its members have passed more and more decision-making power to the union--cfr.org. New leaders of the EU / ECB (nominees still need to be debated and ratified by the European Parliament):
- Ursula von der Leyen, 60, Germany: European Commission President;
- Charles Michel, 43, Belgium: President of the European Council;
- Josep Borrell, 72, Spain: EU High Representative (foreign policy);
- Christine Lagarde, 63, France: European Central Bank President.
4) ICYMI Tech News:
Airbnb is among IPOs investors are anticipating in the second half of 2019--CNBC (video).
Broadcom In Advanced Talks to Acquire Symantec--another software acquisition by CEO Tan?
Antitrust: Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) representing Walmart, Target, Best Buy, others writes to FTC (pdf) about tech giant dominance, offering help with antitrust probes, and calls out Amazon and Google.
Amazon & Product Liability: 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (2-1) rules customers can sue Amazon when they buy defective products from its platform, even if Amazon did not make those products.
What's left to monetize? It appears the answer is "very little."--blogspot.com--"Advertising has always monetized consumers' time and attention, what we call engagement today. Big Tech has generated billions of dollars by monetizing other forms of engagement and privately owned capital/assets. Google has monetized web search ... AirBNB has monetized privately owned or leased homes and flats ..."
Early front-runners to regulate Libra are FINMA (Switzerland) and BOE (UK): "The long-run success of Libra critically depends on finding a nation with financial gravitas willing to provide Libra-friendly rules."--seekingalpha.com.
Ireland-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitsane has apparently vanished, taking as many as 246,000 users’ crypto deposits with it.--zerohedge.com.
Personal Tech: Surviving a SIM swap attack | zdnet.com--"Turns out, the attack was likely driven by a Coinbase account I experimented with in early 2018 that was never closed." See also The Motherboard Guide to Not Getting Hacked.
-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo
-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo
