ANOTHER UNEASY year for chief executives is drawing to a close. A series of elections, from India to America, cast a shroud of uncertainty over 2024. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East kept geopolitics front and centre. China’s economy slowed and Europe’s continued to sputter. Excitement over artificial intelligence (AI) was balanced by gnawing questions over the pace of adoption and the rate of further technological advances. More
THE BOSSES of America’s trillion-dollar technology giants represent two CEO archetypes. First, the eccentric visionary founder: Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Elon Musk of Tesla and Jensen Huang of Nvidia are obsessed with their products; wield untrammelled power thanks to the strength of their will, the size of their shareholding, or both; and make questionable sartorial choices. Second, the caretaker: Tim Cook of Apple, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Andy Jassy of Amazon and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet, Google’s corporate parent, are low-key, sensibly attired hired guns who mostly take great existing products and turn them into fabulous businesses. More
The Can of Ham cannot find a buyer. It may be hard to see the Gherkin because the Walkie-Talkie and the Cheesegrater get in the way. London’s skyline is made of glass, steel and nicknames. Sometimes these names start out as criticism: the city’s tallest building got its name when it was described as a “shard of glass through the heart of historic London” by a heritage group. But in time, they denote familiarity and, often, affection. On December 13th the City of London approved plans for a new skyscraper that will be as tall as the Shard; the chances are high that it will eventually wind up with a sobriquet based on its shape. More
The Venus de Milo; “Mona Lisa”; 250 skulls on a mirrored wall; a six-metre Tyrannosaurus rex. You can see all this and more at “The Art of the Brick”, a touring exhibition currently in Berlin. It is the work of Nathan Sawaya, a former lawyer. His chosen medium? Lego bricks. More
Honda put nostalgia to the fore on December 18th when it announced that the Prelude, a nameplate last produced some 25 years ago, now being relaunched as a hybrid-electric, would come with the option of a system that simulates gear changes and combustion-engine noises. The message, however, was quickly drowned out by news with far more bearing on the Japanese carmaker’s future. It is considering merging with Nissan, a floundering domestic rival, to create the world’s third-largest carmaker by sales, behind only Toyota and Volkswagen. Yet joining together will not fix the problems of a duo stuck in the past. More
It has been a banner year for America’s unions. In November 33,000 machinists returned to their stations at Boeing having won a 38% wage increase over four years. Their victory followed a seven-week strike that brought the plane-maker to its knees. A month before, 47,000 dockworkers walked out for three days at some of the country’s busiest ports. Teamsters union members at Amazon warehouses in New York are threatening a strike. More
There will be fewer designer handbags or high heels under the Christmas tree this year. Spending on personal luxury goods is set to fall by 2% in 2024, according to Bain, a consultancy. Sales of fashion and leather items at LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury conglomerate, have tumbled. Kering, which owns Gucci, has issued a string of profit warnings. Anyone that receives Versace goodies from Santa may feel a little less pleased than usual. The luxury brand is selling 40% of its products at a discount. More
SITTING ON THE board of a large American company is at once the plummest and most thankless work in business. Plum because, when everything is going right, you pocket $300,000 a year in cash and stock for showing up to a well-catered meeting every month and a half. Thankless because you seldom get credit for things going right but take the blame when they go awry. And awry they go with disturbing regularity. More
