The Daily Ten – Jack Ma’s fall to earth, Winklevoss twins ride Bitcoin wave to Billionaire status, Positive news in Jobs report…
The Daily Ten
1. How billionaire Jack Ma fell to earth and took Ant’s mega IPO with him | St. Louis Post Dispatch
SINGAPORE/HONG KONG/BEIJING — They say talk is cheap. Tell that to Jack Ma.
Corporate China’s shiniest star was just days away from seeing his Ant Group list on the stock market in a record $37 billion deal, when he chose to launch a blistering public attack on the country’s financial watchdogs and banks.
The regulatory system was stifling innovation and must be reformed to fuel growth, billionaire Ma told a summit in Shanghai on Oct. 24 attended by the great and the good of China’s financial, regulatory and political establishment.
Chinese banks, he said, operated with a “pawnshop” mentality.
It was this speech that set off a chain of events that ultimately torpedoed the listing of Ant, the fintech titan Ma founded, according to interviews with government officials, company executives and investors. They all requested anonymity to disclose confidential details.
2. A Better, Cheaper Apartment for Renters Who Stay in New York | WSJ
After exodus of tenants from Manhattan in recent months, many die-hard New Yorkers have seized on the soft rental market to upgrade
After the pandemic hit, many New Yorkers fled for the comforts of the suburbs. Mariana Avelino went shopping for a new place in the city.
The 28-year-old commercial video producer, who lived in a one-bedroom apartment in a walk-up building in Long Island City, Queens, noticed the borough’s landlords were offering greater concessions than…
3. Jobs Report Shows Gains but Vulnerability to New Virus Surge | The New York Times
U.S. payrolls grew by 638,000 in October and unemployment fell to 6.9%, but lockdowns could stifle a rebound in restaurant and retail work.
The American economy continues to heal from the devastating effects of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic last spring, but a new wave of cases threatens prospects for sustained growth.
The Labor Department reported Friday that employers added 638,000 jobs in October, a figure that would have been larger without a drop in temporary census workers.
But the engines behind much of the gain — bars and restaurants, which added 192,000 jobs, and retailing, which picked up 104,000 — represent some of the jobs most at risk from a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
4. Smaller Is Big in New E-Commerce Warehouse | WSJ
An intricate dance by robots turns tight urban spaces into ‘microfulfillment’ centers for online orders
A robot army is doing training drills in a narrow warehouse by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Behind loading-dock doors covered in graffiti, the chunky metal machines navigate a 23-foot-tall structure stacked with blue plastic bins, sliding up, down and across metal racks as they select bins and move them to the warehouse floor. Down below, dozens of low-slung, mobile robots that resemble Roomba vacuums sweep along to move the bins to stations where human workers will finally get their hands on the goods.
The intricate dance, choreographed by software and executed with automation, powers a strategy known as microfulfillment. It is aimed at speeding up the delivery of goods to consumers in cities through operations that pack large numbers of products into tight, urban spaces.
5. Biden Win Emboldens Bulls as Emerging Markets Signal Buy | Bloomberg
The emerging-market bargain-buyers are in celebration mode. And the party’s not over yet.
The prospect of a Joe Biden presidency checked by a divided Congress has gotten everyone from Eaton Vance Corp. to Medley Global Advisors predicting a fresh boost for risk assets, just a week after the stocks, currencies and bonds of developing nations hit the buffers as the U.S. election approached. BlackRock Inc. says developing-nation assets, which look more appealing in this low-rate world, could benefit from a more moderate leader in the White House. The Biden administration’s policy approach will probably reduce uncertainty, according to UBS Global Wealth Management.
Gains for emerging markets would support the view that the election result is likely to cap U.S. interest rates for longer and weaken the dollar, boosting the debt and currencies of developing nations as they struggle to finance efforts to contain the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
6. Winklevoss Twins Ride Bitcoin Surge to Become Billionaires Again | Bloomberg
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, whose fortunes have been on a roller coaster since they jostled with fellow student Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard University more than a decade ago, are once again billionaires thanks to a surge in the price of Bitcoin.
The twins bought $11 million worth of Bitcoins in 2013, according to the New York Times, and soon became evangelists, creating crypto exchange Gemini Trust Co. The 39-year-old brothers, who gained widespread fame following the release of the 2010 movie “The Social Network,” briefly became billionaires in 2017 when Bitcoin soared to a record before the volatile currency plummeted.
Bitcoin has more than doubled this year to $15,433, partly driven by fears that massive central bank easing and fiscal stimulus will debase currencies. Each of the twins is worth about $1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. They also own other cryptocurrencies including Ether.
The Winklevoss brothers declined to comment on their wealth through a spokeswoman.
7. The world’s first crewed Hyperloop trip was a success | Engadget
The test was carried out at the company’s DevLoop site in Nevada.
Virgin Hyperloop has taken a massive step closer to realizing its new form of transport with its first crewed test. At the company’s DevLoop facility in Nevada, two passengers were fired through the 500-meter tube on Sunday evening. The company says it marks a new frontier in the development of the vacuum tube technology.
Company co-founder Josh Giegel and head of Passenger Experience Sara Luchian were on board for the first run. Giegel’s involvement, as head of the project, was an obvious choice to show how confident he felt about the work, while Lucian was one of 40 employees who volunteered to ride in the capsule’s other seat. The company says that both were given extensive tests and training to ensure they were healthy and prepared for the trip.
8. New York City rises on list of North America’s Top 30 tech real estate markets | New York Business Journal
New York City rose on the latest ranking of 30 North American cities that looks at the high-tech industry’s impact on employment and office space.
New York City, according to real estate firm CBRE, ranks No. 5 on the 2020 list, which measures the tech industry’s effects on office markets. A year ago, it ranked No. 7.
Vancouver, British Columbia kept its No. 1 ranking in North America.
According to CBRE, U.S. office leasing by the high-tech industry in the second quarter of 2020 was down 46% from the 2019 quarterly average, as more tech workers worked remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic.
But CBRE added: “Tech industry growth prospects are strong once the Covid-19 pandemic subsides. … Expected tech industry growth, along with new tech company formations, will lead to rapid job growth and increased office demand as previously occurred after the Great Recession and dot-com bust.”
9. The Bronx’s Little Italy is thriving amid the COVID-19 crisis | New York Post
Bellissimo! is not a word one would use to describe business in New York City since the pandemic struck — unless you’re talking about Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.
The stretch of roughly 12 blocks that encompass the Bronx’s Little Italy — known for its cured meats, cheese blocks and other Italian delicacies — has become a shopping oasis for cooped-up metropolitan area residents with money to spend, The Post has learned. And that’s helping fuel a spate of new businesses at a time when most city restaurants are struggling to survive, including six new restaurant openings or expansions, sources said.
10. Rent to sublease office space on Park Avenue unbelievably low | New York Post
For companies looking for impossibly cheap Midtown sublease space, now’s the time to pounce.
How cheap? Would you believe $25 per square foot on a prime stretch of Park Avenue?
That mind-boggling low rent is what high-profile public-relations firm 5W is paying at 299 Park Ave. under a sublease from MarketAxess Holdings, which moved to 55 Hudson Yards. The annual rent is $708,400 for the entire 10th floor, 28,336 square feet.
The 299 Park tower’s 1.2 million square feet are more than 90 percent leased at solid market rents, mostly to CapitalOne bank. The Post reported last week on the building’s capital-improvements program and Park Avenue’s overall strong metrics despite offices remaining mostly empty. We said that the subdistrict’s asking rents were more than $110 per square foot.