Is This the FinTech Effect Showing Up?
Franklin Resources announced they are acquiring Legg Mason which will create an investment management firm with revenues approaching $9 billion annually. Franklin Resources revenue for FY19 (their FY ends in September) was $5.7 billion. Legg Mason had 2018 revenue of $2.9 billion and their 3 quarters to date in 2019 showed flat revenues. Franklin’s revenue’s […]
The Incredible Shrinking Sears Company
This past week, Sears announced the closing of another 96 stores following a seemingly continual series of the same type of announcements over the past few years. It is easy to find any number of pundits pointing to various causes of the demise – online shopping being the number 1 culprit. But others have fought thru […]
Putting WeWork into Business/Revenue Context
The past couple of weeks have been a near constant stream of news, stories and updates about WeWork as the company struggled to regain some valuation footing on its way to an IPO. One has to wonder about the press build-up and hype around companies like this that are on the track to an IPO. […]
European Banks Lagging
With a cloudy economic growth outlook and talk of recession as markets head into the final months of 2019, there have been analyses pointing out that European banks are looking weak. From that, we decided to look at the banking industry players by various region and see where the growth has been. And it is […]
I Am Waiting For FinTech
Really. I am waiting to see the effects of FinTech. It was just a couple years ago when we could not read anything in the business press that was not FinTech related. There were thousands of start-ups and billion$$$ of venture money invested in the space. We were sure to see a world run on […]
Gas & Oil Companies in The Global 5000
It was just announced that Chevron will be acquiring Anadarko Petroleum. Chevron recently posted revenue of $158 billion while Anadarko’s was $13 billion. No sooner had the release been posted when we started to read headlines and opinions questioning whether this might the start of a wave of merger activity in the Oil & Gas […]
Amazon in Everyone’s Sights
When Amazon (#20 on the Global 5000 rankings) announced they were pulling out of their HQ2 location in New York, a wave of press, comments & criticisms flooded the media. Among the cries for change we found some calling for the breakup of Amazon as it has become too big. Obviously an emotional, ‘in-the-moment’ jump […]
Big Economies & Big Companies
In the everyday stream of business news we read about all the economic ups and downs usually intertwined with political or government policy action/inaction. Whether it be recession related, Brexit news, OPEC actions, trade wars or any number of factors, the constant drumbeat makes it hard to see the bigger waves of change. As we […]
Going After the Biggest Target Market
One of the things that never ceases to amaze us is the total size of the Global 5000 companies as they relate to total economy of the world. Adding up the revenue of the 5000 companies, the total comes to $55.7 trillion. That is 70% of global GDP. Astounding. How big a target market does […]
Top 100 Global Retailers
With the Amazon effect being the talk of the retail world, we sometimes lose sight of all the retailers & wholesalers in the many corners of the world. Here’s a list of the top 100 retailers (by revenue) in the Global 5000. At the top of the list is Walmart at $500 billion down to […]