Philippa Kaur

Boeing’s reputation for reliability in recent years has been earned not by the performance of its products, but by its ability to generate unwelcome news. So the first few months of 2025 have come as something of a relief. The American aerospace giant has mostly been the bearer of good tidings in the shape of growing orders for planes, legal woes set aside and military contracts won. After a long period of largely self-inflicted trouble, there are signs the clouds may be parting. More

China’s internet moguls are nothing if not fiercely competitive. Take, for instance, the jockeying for leadership in the market for cloud services. Baidu, the country’s search giant, surprised industry watchers on May 21st when it revealed that revenue from its cloud-computing business in the first quarter had surged by 42%, year on year, blowing through analysts’ predictions. The same day Tencent, maker of the WeChat super-app, hosted a cloud-computing conference at which it promised a big upgrade to its platform and cut its prices. The next day Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce firm, told an audience at its own cloud-themed conference that it was expanding globally and that its services would soon be available in dozens of countries. More

China’s internet moguls are nothing if not fiercely competitive. Take, for instance, the jockeying for leadership in the market for cloud services. Baidu, the country’s search giant, surprised industry watchers on May 21st when it revealed that revenue from its cloud-computing business in the first quarter had surged by 42%, year on year, blowing through analysts’ predictions. The same day Tencent, maker of the WeChat super-app, hosted a cloud-computing conference at which the firm cut its prices and promised a big upgrade to its platform. The next day Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce firm, told an audience at its own cloud-themed conference that it was expanding globally and that its services would soon be available in dozens of countries. More

For all the unwieldiness it entails, scale has always brought enormous benefits in business. Fixed costs are set against more revenue, raising profits and supporting investment. Heft brings bargaining power with suppliers and financiers. From the early 2000s, the advantages of scale became more pronounced. Intangible assets, including software and intellectual property, gave the upper hand to companies that could afford to invest in them. Globalisation provided big companies with more room to grow, as well as access to larger—and cheaper—pools of labour. In America, the gap in profitability between big and small firms widened (see chart 1). Economists began to speak of “superstar” firms racing further ahead of the competition. More

In the swampy Florida heat, a gaggle of enthusiasts, influencers and journalists gathered this week for the opening of Epic Universe, a new theme park in Orlando. The sprawling site, made up of five themed “worlds”, took Comcast, owner of Universal Pictures, $7bn and more than five years to build. Only a 20-minute drive from Walt Disney World, it is a bold bet that the company behind film franchises including Harry Potter and Super Mario can offer something just as magical. More

DURING WALMART’S latest earnings call on May 15th, Doug McMillon stated the obvious. “The higher tariffs will result in higher prices,” the big-box behemoth’s chief executive told analysts, referring to Donald Trump’s levies on imports of just about anything from just about anywhere. Who’d have thought? Two days later the president weighed in with an alternative idea. Walmart (and China, where many of those imports come from) should “EAT THE TARIFFS,” he posted on social media. Mr McMillon did not respond publicly to the suggestion. But it is likely to be a polite, lower-case “Thanks, but no thanks.” More

WHEN THE chief executive of a large tech firm based in San Francisco shares a drink with the bosses of his Fortune 500 clients, he often hears a similar message. “They’re frustrated and disappointed. They say: ‘I don’t know why it’s taking so long. I’ve spent money on this. It’s not happening’”. More

Set amid a backdrop of lush rolling hills and marshy lakes, Ningde is an unassuming company town on the south-eastern coast of China, lined with low-rise buildings and apartment blocks. One structure stands out: a gleaming rectangular tower with a gently curving glass facade, which bears an uncanny resemblance to a giant lithium-ion battery pack. More