Hollywood's Most Profitable Hero
Sony brings the money, Marvel brings the vibes and Peter Parker gets caught in the middle of Hollywood's most profitable frenemy saga.
Markets
Shares, bonds, currencies and commodities, and the companies behind them: what moved, why it moved and what the price is saying.
65 articles
The AI Infrastructure Arms Race: Tomorrow's Economy, or Yesterday's Bubble?
Big tech is on track to spend up to $690 billion on AI infrastructure this year alone. History suggests the technology can still win even as many of today's financiers lose everything.
The Won's Great Reversal: How Chip Cash and a Rate Hike Rewired Korea's Currency
The won went from one of Asia's worst-performing currencies to one of the world's best in a matter of weeks, as chipmakers' overseas earnings came home, foreign equity selling eased, and the Bank of Korea ended a three-year rate freeze.
Sainsbury's Recovered Most of Its Money on Argos. It Still Lost a Decade
Sainsbury's got most of its money back from Argos, and the integration did roughly what management said it would. The problem is what the capital earned in the meantime: Argos now makes a 0.2% margin.
The New Rules of Pharma M&A
Big Pharma is acquiring earlier and accepting greater scientific risk for unproven drugs. The driver is not confidence in the science but the fear of a rival securing the next blockbuster first, as a $300bn patent cliff bears down on the industry.
Why EQT Is Racing to Sell Private Equity to Individuals
The retail push looked like growth. It was really the industry building a capital base that does not depend on selling anything.
Eli Lilly's Fight Against Depression
After decades of underinvestment, scientific setbacks and fading industry interest, psychiatry is showing signs of life again. Eli Lilly's acquisition of AtaiBeckley, worth up to $3.8 billion, signals renewed hope that the future of depression treatment may look very different from the past.
The Concert Fee You Always Pay
A jury found Live Nation and Ticketmaster liable for illegal monopolisation in April 2026. The case is a study in how vertical integration converts dominance in one business into control over an entire industry.
The Fed's Hawkish Turn: Why Kevin Warsh Is Flirting With a Rate Hike as Inflation Proves Sticky
New Fed chair Kevin Warsh was expected to bring a dovish, rate-cutting sensibility to the central bank. Instead, his first meeting delivered the most hawkish surprise markets have seen in years, with traders now pricing in the Fed's first hike since 2023.
The NATO Paradox: Autonomy Off the Shelf
With the old black box monopolies breaking apart, private capital has emerged to underwrite the next era of European warfare.
AstraZeneca's Bet on the Future of COPD Treatment
A $200 million upfront payment, with milestones potentially taking the deal's total value to $1.9 billion, gives AstraZeneca exclusive rights to develop and commercialise an experimental COPD treatment outside China. More importantly, it highlights a broader shift in how Big Pharma is sourcing innovation.
The Concentration Trap: Why Private Equity's Revival Is Leaving Most of the Industry Behind
Global PE fundraising is rising but the number of funds closing is collapsing. The industry is not recovering. It is concentrating, and the zombie firm data suggests the structural shift is already irreversible for much of the market.
The Shipping Cartel That Ran for 15 Years
South Korea's shipping cartel ran for 15 years across three major trade routes. The case is a textbook study in how cartels form, how they enforce discipline, and why concentrated industries make collusion so hard to prevent.
Inside Vertex's $10 Billion Bet on Crinetics
Vertex's $10 billion acquisition of Crinetics is about far more than adding another drug to its portfolio. It is a strategic bet on an endocrinology platform that could fuel the company's next phase of growth.
From Conglomerate to Energy: KKR's £5.7bn Bet on DCC's Transformation
A £5.7bn approach for DCC is as much a bet on the Irish conglomerate's years-long transformation into an energy distributor as it is a straightforward take-private deal, and it says as much about KKR's ambitions as it does about DCC itself.
Borrowing Against Tomorrow: How Private Equity Is Living With Its Liquidity Problem
From preferred equity deals for LP stakes to carried interest loans for executives, private equity is manufacturing liquidity at every level of the food chain. The exit market remains blocked. The workarounds are getting bigger.
Who Should Profit from Britain's Autism Crisis?
As NHS waiting lists for autism assessments pass 200,000, private capital is flowing into neurodiversity services – forcing the question of whether profit and patient care can ever be aligned.
AI Boom vs. Dot-Com Bubble: History doesn't repeat, it rhymes
From rocketing IPOs to frothy market sentiment, at face value, today’s AI trade unmistakably mirrors the dot-com bubble – only this time the fallout could be far more destructive.
The Bond Giant Going Private: How Pimco Is Redrawing the Credit Map
Pimco, the $2.3tn bond giant built on public markets, is quietly becoming one of the most powerful actors in private credit with mega-deals for Meta and Oracle, lending to Gulf states in wartime, and exploiting the liquidity crunch hitting rival funds.
Has the FDA Just Revived Gene Therapy?
A single FDA reversal sent Regenxbio's shares soaring and reignited optimism across gene therapy - but one favourable decision cannot solve the commercial challenges that pushed the industry into crisis.