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☆ What’s the Status of Flaunting Your Status?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Guy Trebay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“We are collectively spending more time checking out what the rich and famous are doing and less time on what Barry from H.R. and Sandra from accounting were up to last weekend,” said Nicholas Bloom, the William D. Eberle professor of economics at Stanford. “Wealth porn,” Stellene Volandes, editor in chief of Town & Country, termed such postings. And as with any permutation of adult entertainment, it’s free online: Anyone can watch. Yet their excesses were noted by a relative few.

Persons: “, ”, William Norwich, The New York Post’s, Hermès Birkin, Barry, Sandra, Nicholas Bloom, William D, Eberle, Karlie Kloss, Josh Kushner —, Slack, Kloss, hoi, Kushner, David Geffen’s humongous, Stellene Volandes, predacious, tycoons, Lacroix Organizations: The New, Stanford, Spotify, Town, Reagan, Metropolitan Museum of Art’s, New York Times Locations: The New York, facto, Calabasas, H.R, Grenadines

☆ Thailand’s political drama raises the stakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, July 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Investors in Thailand are long used to twists and turns in the country’s politics but a court’s move on Wednesday to suspend the leader of the election-winning Move Forward Party as a lawmaker has raised the stakes. Pita Limjaroenrat's supporters are protesting as it’s now unlikely that the liberal and would-be aggressive reformer of the underperforming $500 billion economy will become the prime minister. It’s not a good outcome, however. Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Pita Limjaroenrat's, Pita, It’s, It's, whir, Xavier Niel’s, Una Galani, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Investors, Party, SETI, Gulf Energy, Asian Development Bank, Twitter, Xavier Niel’s GAM, Commonwealth Games, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, Thailand, Asia

☆ India is on pace to pass the US on the list of the world's biggest economies — but there's a looming chance it squanders this promise
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Cork Gaines | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

According to a recent Goldman report, India's economy is projected to top America's around 2075, becoming the second-largest in the world. India's economic growth is fueled by several key factors, including its vast labor force, technological advances, and burgeoning capital investment. A significant driver of this growth is innovation and technology, as noted by Goldman Sachs's chief India economist, Santanu Sengupta. The Goldman Sachs team noted that the biggest risk facing the country is if the labor force participation rate does not reverse its current 15-year downward trend. "If you have more opportunities — especially for women, because the women's labor force participation rate is significantly lower than men's — you can shore up your labor force participation rate, which can further increase your potential growth."

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Zahra Tayeb, Goldman Sachs's, Santanu Sengupta, Sengupta, Tan, Elon Musk Organizations: Service, Apple, SpaceX, Goldman Locations: India, China, Wall, Silicon, India's, Mexico, Pacific

☆ I tested an electric and a gas-powered Rolls-Royce — and I think the $420,000 Spectre EV is the one to buy for a simple reason
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

I drove two Rolls-Royces: a traditional gas-powered one and a new electric model. The electric Spectre takes Rolls-Royce comfort and quietness to the next level. The gas-powered Ghost sedan is fabulous too, featuring an extravagant interior. But at an event marking the Spectre's launch I drove it and a gas-fueled Ghost sedan (worth around $400,000) to see how they stack up. They're both spectacular in almost every way, but there's one key reason I think the Spectre is the ultimate Rolls-Royce.

Persons: Royce Organizations: Tesla, Royce Locations: California

It was Nov. 3, 2017, and the target was José Manuel Villarejo Pérez, a former government spy. He was rumored to have had powerful friends and to have kept dirt on them all. He was, after all, a spy — and not just any spy, but one who had started his career in the secret police of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Villarejo was handcuffed and taken to Madrid. And what happens when that man finds himself suddenly backed into a corner?

Persons: Adrienne Hurst, Dan Farrell, Manuel Villarejo Pérez, —, Villarejo’s, Francisco Franco, Villarejo Organizations: Spotify, ETA Locations: Spain, Madrid, Spanish, Basque

☆ Adani case threatens watchdog’s rising credibility
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Shritama Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In June the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the country’s markets regulator, disciplined two media tycoons for alleged wrongdoing and strengthened disclosure norms for foreign investors. Going all-in on the Adani case would entail working with other law enforcers, such as the Directorate of Enforcement and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence. Unless Buch’s team pulls out all the stops, the regulator’s toughest test under her leadership so far is a threat to its rising credibility. The markets regulator on June 12 barred Zee Entertainment Enterprises CEO Punit Goenka and Chair Emeritus Subhash Chandra from holding key managerial positions in any listed company. In a separate order dated June 22 Sebi barred Eros group Managing Director Sunil Arjan Lulla and three group entities including Eros International Media from the securities market, citing accounting irregularities.

Persons: Puri, Gautam, Punit Goenka, Subhash Chandra, Breakingviews, Sebi, Sunil Arjan Lulla, Antony Currie, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Reuters, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Eros International, Reuters Graphics Reuters, of Revenue Intelligence, Securities, Exchange Board, India, Eros International Media, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI

☆ The top 500 richest people in the world made an average of $14 million each day in the first half of 2023 as markets rallied
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The 500 richest people added $852 billion to their collective fortunes in the first half of this year, per Bloomberg. The billionaires' wealth was boosted on the back of a broad market rally. Now worth $237 billion, Musk is the world's richest person — ahead of Frenchman Bernard Arnault, the CEO, and co-founder of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Musk and Arnault have been swapping positions as the world's richest person since late 2022. Indian tycoon Gautam Adani's fortune tanked by $60.2 billion this year, making him the biggest loser in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Persons: Tesla, Elon Musk, —, Mark Zuckerberg, Musk, Twitter —, Frenchman Bernard Arnault, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Zuckerberg, Gautam Adani's, Adani Organizations: Bloomberg, SpaceX, Service, Tech, Twitter, Hindenburg Research, Nasdaq

☆ India's gearing up to be the new China, but even Elon Musk is finding it hard to crack into the market. Here are 5 reasons why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

India has overtaken China as the world's most populous country, and it's pushing for foreign investments. But foreign investors keen to enter the Indian market face various barriers to entry. Earlier this year, India overtook China as the world's most populous country. Among investors keen on investing in India are Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and tech giant Apple. But given the huge Indian market, Tesla isn't giving up.

Persons: —, Narendra Modi's, Elon Musk, Mark Mobius, Modi —, Modi, Musk, Ashutosh Sharma, Forrester, That's, Sharma, India's, Mukesh Ambani Organizations: Service, India, Indian, Tesla, SpaceX, US International Trade Administration, ITA, Bank, World Bank, US, Reliance Industries SpaceX, Reliance, Reuters, Ambani's Locations: India, China

☆ Yacht maker’s westward detour comes at a price
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Hong Kong-listed Ferretti went the extra mile to ensure its shares could finally trade in Europe. At 13 times its expected 2023 net profit , Ferretti traded at a discount to rival Sanlorenzo’s (SNL.MI) 15 times multiple. That’s a modest outcome for a company that has laboured since 2019 to try and list in its Italian home base. That compares to the 2.5% fee Italian gambling company Lottomatica (LTMC.MI) paid for its Milan market debut in May. Weichai will still hold on to nearly a third of Ferretti’s shares after its Milan listing.

Persons: Ferretti, pricey Riva speedboats, Sanlorenzo’s, Weichai, Goldman Sachs, Danilo Iervolino, Karel Komárek, Alberto Galassi, Yawen Chen, Aston Martin, Lisa Jucca, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, JPMorgan, Milan, Twitter, ICICI Bank, Siemens, Thomson Locations: Hong Kong, Europe, Milan, Abu Dhabi, China, Canada

☆ Prigozhin might want to 'steer clear of any upper floor windows' for now, says military expert: 'When you strike at a king, you must kill him'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A military expert says Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin "may want to steer clear" of windows. Wechsler added that Prigozhin should remember: "When you strike at a king, you must kill him." Two critics of Putin's war in Ukraine have died in the last year after falling from building windows. He came to an agreement because Putin has long been his patron, not his adversary — the Russian military elite is his adversary," Wechsler told Insider. "In the end, Putin and Prigozhin avoided the kind of conflict that would have risked each or both of them losing everything, but the resulting agreement has diminished them both.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wechsler, —, Yevgeny Prigozhin's, Ralph Waldo Emerson's, William F, Prigozhin, Obama, Vladimir Putin, Pavel Antov, Antov, Ravil Maganov, Maganov's, Putin, " Wechsler Organizations: Service, Wagner Group, Rafik Hariri Center and Middle, Atlantic Council, Associated Press, Russian Defense Ministry, BBC, Russian Locations: Rafik, Moscow, Belarus, Ukraine, India, Russia

In the war-torn Chechnya region, Mr. Kadyrov built up a private fiefdom while professing loyalty to no official but Mr. Putin himself. A judo sparring partner from Mr. Putin’s youth became a construction billionaire and built Mr. Putin’s landmark bridge to Crimea. And then there was Mr. Prigozhin, who has said that he met Mr. Putin in 2000 as a St. Petersburg restaurateur. In Ukraine, as Mr. Prigozhin tells it, Wagner troops were only called in after Mr. Putin’s initial invasion plan failed. But Mr. Putin seemed to vacillate on his own support for Mr. Prigozhin.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Putin’s, “, ”, —, “ Putin, Tatiana Stanovaya, ” Mr, Ramzan Kadyrov, Aleksandr G, Lukashenko, Mr, Wagner, tycoons, Boris N, Yeltsin, Kadyrov, Prigozhin’s, K.G.B, Donald J, Trump, Weeks, ’, Putin “, Andrei Soldatov, Prigozhin “, ” Mark Galeotti, ” Neil MacFarquhar, Valerie Hopkins Organizations: Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, ., Reuters, Federal Security Service, Kremlin, Television, Defense, Defense Ministry, Center for Locations: Russia, Moscow, Russian, Rostov, Chechnya, Belarus, Russia’s, Don, Ukraine, Putin’s, Crimea, St, Petersburg, United States, Syria, Africa, Ukrainian, Bakhmut

☆ Sony’s India deal episode hits fresh cliffhanger
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, June 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Sony's (6758.T) Indian unit keeps running into fresh plot twists. The deal, in the works since late 2021, has already overcome multiple hurdles. Zee has weathered shareholder calls for a rejig of the company’s board and from creditors to declare it insolvent. After all, it is a strategic combination designed to take on Disney (DIS.N), Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), Netflix (NFLX.O) and others. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Punit Goenka, Subhash Chandra, Goenka, Shritama Bose, Una Galani, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Zee Entertainment, Securities, Exchange Board, India, Sony, Disney, Reliance Industries, Netflix, Zee, Twitter, Brookfield, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, London, Teck, China

☆ The Spy Who Called Me
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Nicholas Casey | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The wave of scandals that would engulf Spain began with a police raid on a wooded property outside Madrid. It was Nov. 3, 2017, and the target was José Manuel Villarejo Pérez, a former government spy. He was rumored to have had powerful friends and to have kept dirt on them all. They had come searching for evidence of money laundering, but it wasn’t Villarejo’s accounting books that gave them pause that day. He was, after all, a spy — and not just any spy, but one who had started his career in the secret police of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

Persons: Manuel Villarejo Pérez, —, Villarejo, “, It’s, ”, Villarejo’s, Francisco Franco Organizations: ETA Locations: Spain, Madrid, ”, Spanish, Basque

☆ A real-estate agent might have bought Ken Griffin's cell phone number from a former FBI employee to facilitate the $240 million sale of a New York City condo
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In 2019, real-estate agents and brothers Tal and Oren Alexander sold a $240 million condo. That's the Alexander brothers' unofficial mantra. In 2015, Griffin dropped $46.4 million on an abstract painting by Gerhard Richter, putting him in the Alexanders' crosshairs. Tal wouldn't reveal how he acquired Griffin's cell phone number, Clarke noted, but one of the writer's sources said he bought it from a former FBI agent. But Griffin wasn't interested in the penthouse Tal had in mind for him.

Persons: Tal, Oren Alexander, Ken Griffin, —, Alexander, Katherine Clarke, Clarke, it's Tal, Oren —, Oren, Douglas Elliman, Griffin, Gerhard Richter, Tal wouldn't, Griffin wasn't, — Griffin, Shlomy Alexander, They've, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Leon Black, Tommy Hilfiger Organizations: Service, Wimbledon, Rollers, Penguin Random, Citadel, Old, FBI, Alexander Team Locations: Aspen, Saudi, United States, Central Park, Miami, Miami Beach

☆ 'It's like watching a snuff film': Media elites shocked by The Atlantic's surgical dismantling of CNN boss Chris Licht
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Nicholas Carlson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

("I'm a fucking machine," Licht told me one day, when I asked why he was skipping a meal.) A clear-the-air town hall where he gets irritated with the CNN journalist interviewing him. Licht told Alberta. The big blunder Alberta returns to over and over in the story is the May 10 Trump town hall. Another media big wig, but one not at the conference, told me he thinks Licht is "done" at CNN.

Persons: moly, Chris Licht, Tim Alberta, Matt Dornic, Licht, Joe Maysonet, chirping, Zucker, Jeff Zucker, Here's Licht, Whatsapp, —, isn't, it's, Nikki Haley, Lago Organizations: CNN, Facebook, Alberta, Trump, Capitol, cnn, Cnn, Mar Locations: Alberta, Hudson, COVID, Puck, Trump, American

☆ Indian ports will test tycoons' safe harbour
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Pranav Kiran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

For the public market wannabe, it tees up a tricky benchmark in a global industry with few listed giants. JSW Infrastructure is closely aligned to India’s growth story. More than half of cargo handled at Indian ports last year was coal, petroleum oil and lubricants. JSW Infrastructure grew revenue 92% in the three years to March 2022, three times as fast as its rival. JSW Infrastructure, India’s second largest commercial ports operator by cargo handling capacity, in May filed for an initial public offering in Mumbai to raise up to 28 billion rupees ($340 million).

Persons: Gautam Adani, Sajjan Jindal, Adani, JSW, ”, Una Galani, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Reuters, Hindenburg Research, Deloitte, JSW, Infrastructure, Deloitte Haskins, Securities and Exchange Board of India, JM Financial, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, HSBC, Credit Suisse, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, Mumbai, Goa, Tamil Nadu, West, JSW

☆ The Mystery of the Disappearing van Gogh
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( May | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He also controlled a hidden offshore network of more than 130 companies holding over $5 billion in assets, according to corporate documents obtained by The New York Times. Among them was Sotheby’s invoice for the van Gogh. Today, Mr. Xiao is a man who has fallen far. And the still life, according to several art experts, has been offered for private sale. For a century after van Gogh gathered flowers and placed them in an earthen vase to paint, the artwork’s provenance could be easily traced, and the piece was often exhibited in museums for visitors to admire.

☆ Telco tycoons’ UK bets look stuck underwater
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Pamela Barbaglia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Set those complications aside, however, and his stake-building may have cost about 4.2 billion pounds overall since 2021. That’s according to Breakingviews calculations which use the share price from the day before each stake increase became public. The holding is now worth 3.6 billion pounds, implying a nearly 560 million pound or 13% loss. That’s mild compared with some of Vodafone’s investors. But UK consolidation would hardly move the needle as Vodafone is haggling to retain control of the merged entity.

LISBON, May 22 (Reuters) - Portuguese police will on Tuesday search a reservoir inland from where British three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007, authorities said, in the first formal development in the case in Portugal in several years. A fire brigade spokesperson said police were preparing to start searches on Tuesday at a dam in the southern region of Algarve about 50 km (31.07 miles) inland from a beach resort where Madeleine went missing from a rented apartment while on a family holiday. Police erected two tents beside the dam on Monday, Reuters TV footage showed. Brueckner, a convicted child abuser and drug dealer, is behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve from where Madeleine went missing. German police said in June 2020 that Madeleine was assumed dead and that Brueckner was likely responsible for it.

☆ Some of the Books That Hernan Diaz Owns Surprise Even Him
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Scott, Deborah Eisenberg, Paul Yoon, Ottessa Moshfegh, Michael Ondaatje, Louise Erdrich, Colson Whitehead, Sigrid Nunez, Jean Strouse, Lorrie Moore. The novel contains four different books, written by different fictional authors in disparate genres and styles. “Trust” closes with a personal diary that is also a sort of a prose poem and a love letter to modernism. While writing this, I read and revisited authors as different as Jean Rhys, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Dawn Powell, Theodor Adorno and Gertrude Stein. Wodehouse section of my library and can report that I’ve read 29 of his books.

☆ Mexican president: 'No problem' if Grupo Mexico buys Citi's Banamex unit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Brendan O'Boyle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Lopez Obrador said the mining and transport conglomerate (GMEXICOB.MX) remains one of the possible buyers of the retail banking unit, also known locally as Banamex. Lopez Obrador said he believes several "recommendations" he has for the sale are being met. Reuters reported last week that Grupo Mexico was closing in on a $7 billion deal to purchase Banamex. Lopez Obrador, a leftist economic nationalist, referenced tensions with Grupo Mexico's billionaire magnate German Larrea. When it comes to the sale and purchase of the bank there is no problem," Lopez Obrador said.

☆ Private equity is being squeezed from all sides
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Edward Chancellor | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

But this time around there’s a lot more private equity money chasing a limited number of opportunities. So private equity funds could face the prospect of a prolonged period of higher borrowing costs, lower valuations, and depressed investment returns. The birth of private equity coincided with the Reagan administration’s policy of relaxing regulations and tax cuts. Recent high profile corporate bankruptcies owned by private equity include car-rental firm Hertz and retailer Toys R Us. The private equity industry could soon find itself caught in a pincer, between tighter financing on the one hand and tighter regulation on the other.

☆ Geopolitics is shrinking India’s risk premium
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

They are lured by a country whose potential as an alternative investment destination to China increasingly outweighs the local challenges of doing business. India’s $3 trillion economy is forecast to grow by 6.5% this fiscal year, continuing to outpace the rest of the world. Executives and investors also see a business-friendly government that is likely to remain in power for the next half-decade. Morgan Stanley analysts and strategists expect India to become the world’s third-largest economy and stock market before the end of the decade. The India risk premium is rapidly disappearing.

☆ The world's 12 wealthiest people got richer by $36 billion in a day - and have now gained $264 billion in net worth this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and their peers have added $264 billion to their fortunes this year. The surge in their companies' stock prices this year has added $46 billion and $42 billion to their respective fortunes. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and L'Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt-Myers have gained around $27 billion, $25 billion and $23 billion each. The billionaire best friends have added $13 billion and $7 billion to their respective fortunes since the start of January. Meanwhile, the $36 billion of wealth they gained on Thursday rivals the the market values of grocery giant Kroger and Taco Bell-owner Yum!

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