Dear Reader,
Maanav here. Welcome to the first Under60 weekend briefing, where I will be collating the top business and technology stories from the previous week. Apologies for yesterday’s title blunder - my cat ran across my keyboard.
[IPO] Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest music company, went public in Amsterdam on Tuesday. Shares of the record label—which represents artists like Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, the Rolling Stones, and Drake—jumped by nearly 40% on their first trading day. Universal was the first among the Big Three labels to shift its strategy to earning royalties from streaming services rather than fighting them. The strategy has paid off as the company is now valued at around $53 billion.
Over60: Fast Company
[China] A deadline passed on Thursday for China Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property company, to pay $83.5 million in interest on a dollar bond. With $305 billion in liabilities, Evergrande is struggling to meet debt obligations, and global markets are watching for signs of default.
Over60: Reuters
[Economy] U.S. Central bank officials indicated on Wednesday that they’re ready to begin “tapering” — the process of slowly pulling back the stimulus they’ve provided during the pandemic. While the Fed has gone into policy retreat before, it has never had to pull back from such a dramatically accommodative position. For most of the past year and a half, it has been buying at least $120 billion of bonds each month, providing unprecedented support to financial markets and the economy that it now will start to walk back.
Over60: CNBC
[Commodities] Soaring gas prices have put the global gas market into chaos - prices have been driven 280% higher in Europe this year and led to a 100%-plus surge in the United States. Higher winter fuel bills, hurt consumption and exacerbate a near-term spike in inflation are thought to be some of the consequences of the spike.
Over60: Reuters
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Team Under60