The Economist - USA (20212-12-04)

14 TheEconomistDecember4th 2021
The world this week Business

Jack Dorseystepped down as

chief executive of Twitter,

which he helped found in

2006. Investors have long
thought that Mr Dorsey was
spreading himself too thin
between Twitter and Square
(soon to be renamed Block), a
payments company that he
will still lead. He was sacked as
ceoin 2008, but returned to
the job in 2015. Last year a
hedge fund sought his remov­
al, after Mr Dorsey said he
wanted to spend some time in
Africa. He once likened Twitter
to a “global consciousness”.
The job of running this univer­
sal system of awareness now
falls to Parag Agrawal, the for­
mer chief technology officer. 

Britain’s competition regulator

looked to unwind a merger

involving Big Tech when it

directed Meta, the parent

company of Facebook, to sell

Giphy, a database of animated

gif files that social­media

users attach to their posts.

Both companies are American.

The regulator concluded that

Facebook’s acquisition of

Giphy last year could concen­

trate Facebook’s market power

in Britain, and also curtail

Giphy’s potential to expand its

own advertising services. 

A regional director of Amer­

ica’s National Labour Relations

Board ordered Amazonto

allow workers at a warehouse

in Alabama a second vote on

whether to unionise, finding

that the company had

“hijacked” the process. In April

a closely watched vote on

joining a union, the first at an

Amazon centre in America,

was overwhelmingly rejected

by employees. Amazon might

appeal to the full nlrbagainst

the decision to hold a re­run. 

Nubanklowered the target

share­price range for its forth­

coming ipoin New York. The

Brazilian fintech firm, Latin

America’s most valuable start­

up, could still be valued at

$42bn, placing it above Brazil’s

biggest bank in terms of mar­

ket capitalisation. Meanwhile

Grab, a “super app” offering a

wide range of services and

based in Singapore, prepared

tomakeitsstockmarketdebut

ontheNasdaqexchangeby

mergingwitha special­pur­

poseacquisitioncompany.

Omigod,Omicron

Markets were unsettled by the

potential for Omicron to ham­

per economic recovery. Global

stockmarketsplunged after

South Africa announced that it

had discovered the latest strain

of covid­19, and remained

febrile. Oil pricesalso

swooned on the prospect for

reduced demand. Brent crude

fell to $70 a barrel, from $82. 

Jerome Powell also spooked

markets when he said it was

time to drop the word

“transitory” from the Federal

Reserve’s statements on

inflation. The central bank’s

chairman admitted that the

risk of higher inflation had

increased, and indicated that

he would support a quicker

pace of monetary­tightening

measures. 

The euro zone’saverage annu­

al rate of inflation rose to 4.9%

in November, the highest it has

been since the creation of the

single currency more than 

years ago, adding more pres­

sure on the European Central

Bank to start winding down its

stimulus programme. In

Germanyinflationstoodat6%,

a levelnotseensincetheafter­

mathofreunificationthree

decadesago.

TheAustralianeconomy

expandedby3.9%inthesec­

ondquarteroverthesame

threemonthslastyear,but

shrankby1.9%comparedwith

thepreviousquarter.Mel­

bourneandSydneyended

theirextensivepandemic

lockdownsonlyinOctober.

Unorthodox

Withtheliraplungingtonew

lows, prompting another

intervention by the central

bank to prop up the currency,

Turkey’sfinance minister

resigned, and was replaced

with an ally of the country’s

president, Recep Tayyip Erdo­

gan. Mr Erdogan believes that

his insistence on interest­rate

cuts has created an economic

boom: gdpgrew by 7.4% in the

thirdquarter,yearonyear.But

theplungingliraandinflation

ofnearly20%havemade

householdgoodsmuchmore

expensive,leadingtorecent

streetprotests.

Theunreportedthatinterna­

tionaltouristarrivalswereup

by58%inJulytoSeptember

comparedwiththesamethree

monthslastyear,butwerestill

64%belowthesamequarterin

2019.Touristarrivalsforthe

wholeof 2021 areexpectedto

remain70­75%belowthoseof

2019,aboutthesameas2020.

Nissanoutlinedanambitious

plantoinvestinelectricvehi­

cles.TheJapanesecompany

willspend¥2trn($17.7bn)on

producingnewelectricor

hybridmodels,aimingforan

“electrificationmix”ofmore

than50%globallyby2030.It

willstillsellcarswithinternal­

combustionengines.

Australia’ssecuritiescommis­

sion said it would fine

Westpac, one of the country’s

biggest banks, for wrongly

charging customers, including

dead people. The regulator

found that, among other

things, Westpac had sought

fees from over 11,000 deceased

customers “for financial­

advice services that were not

provided due to their death”.

Tu r key

Source:RefinitivDatastream

20

15

10

5

2020 2021

Consumer prices

% increase on

a year earlier

One-week repo interest rate, %