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The World
The U.S. will end the year having vaccinated far fewer people against coronavirus than hoped, with states having used only about a fifth of the doses they were given in the past three weeks. Public health officials said a combination of the holiday season, bad weather and complex vaccine procedures was to blame. Dr. Fauci said he sees the U.S. gaining control over pandemic by next autumn. (Financial Times, Reuters)
The new, potentially more contagious coronavirus variant has been found in Southern California, as some L.A. County funeral homes have no more room for the dead. In Texas, AG Ken Paxton sued after Austin banned late on-site dining for New Year’s weekend amid a Covid-19 surge. (Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times-2, Texas Tribune)
Britain will open up by Easter with approval of the Oxford vaccine allowing an accelerated end to social distancing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised, as three quarters of people in England are under stay-at-home orders. Belarus and Argentina began mass inoculations using the Russian-developed Sputnik V shot, becoming the first countries outside Russia to roll out the vaccine, though it is still undergoing studies to ensure its safety and effectiveness. (The Times, Los Angeles Times)
The U.S. experienced in 2020 the largest single one-year increase in homicides since the country started keeping such records in the 20th century — a 20.9% increase in killings nationwide, in the first nine months of the year, and even bloodier increases in many major cities, due largely to gun violence. (Washington Post)
Senate Majority Leader McConnell appeared to deliver a political death blow to a last-minute push to authorize $2,000 stimulus checks, arguing he would not be “bullied” despite pressure from President Trump, congressional Democrats and even some Republicans for the more generous payments. The GOP leader’s stance threatened to carry broad political repercussions only a day after Trump said it would be a “death wish” for Republicans if they did not boost stimulus payment. (Washington Post)
Protests planned in support of President Trump on Jan. 6 are multiplying by the week. Four seemingly competing rallies to demand that Congress overturn the election are scheduled on the day Congress is set to certify electoral college votes, declaring Biden the winner. (Washington Post)
Josh Hawley (R-MO) became the first senator to take up President Trump’s demand that lawmakers challenge the election, saying he would object to Congress’s certification of the Electoral College results on Jan. 6. The move is unlikely to alter the outcome, but will force Republicans into a politically fraught Trump loyalty test. (New York Times)
Boris Johnson proclaimed “a new chapter in our national story”: MPs overwhelming approved a post-Brexit trade deal, drawing a line under Britain’s tumultuous 47-year membership of the EU. (Financial Times, The Times)
The EU and China unveiled a long-awaited investment treaty that aims to open lucrative new corporate opportunities — but which risks antagonizing Biden’s incoming US administration. The EU praised Beijing for making an “unprecedented commitment” to provide certainty and predictability to EU businesses. Chinese President Xi Jinping said the deal “shows China’s determination and confidence in fostering high-level external openness.” The Biden camp warned against haste. (Financial Times, South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asian Review)
Turkey, Iran and Pakistan will revive a transnational rail service linking Istanbul, Tehran and Islamabad in 2021 — offering “Oriental Express” service for the 21st century connecting West Asia to China and enhancing connectivity with China's Belt and Road Initiative. The immense route stretches 6,540 km — more than a sixth of the world's circumference. Some 1,950 km of track is in Turkey, 2,600 km in Iran, and another 1,990 km in Pakistan. The journey from Istanbul to Islamabad will take 10 days — much faster than the 21 days by sea between Turkey and Pakistan. (Nikkei Asian Review)
North Korea will convene its first ruling party congress in nearly five years in early January, where leader Kim Jong Un could signal his stance toward the incoming Biden administration. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Record IPO surge: Companies raised $167.2 billion through 454 offerings on U.S. exchanges this year through Dec. 24, compared with the previous full-year record of $107.9 billion at the height of the dot-com boom in 1999. (Wall Street Journal)
Economy
The unequal, “K-shaped” recovery that economists fear is dividing the wider U.S. economy is also playing out across corporate America, as the pandemic deepens the gulf between the largest, best-financed companies and those lacking scale, leading brands or robust balance sheets. Many of the largest businesses got larger in 2020 as smaller rivals plunged into crisis. “The last year’s clearly been K-shaped,” said James Manyika, chairman of the McKinsey Global Institute. (Financial Times)
Global crude oil markets lost about 20% of their value in 2020 as lockdowns paralyzed much of the global economy, but prices have rebounded strongly as governments rolled out stimulus. China’s economy activity slowed modestly in December, led by declines in the manufacturing and services sectors. (Reuters, South China Morning Post)
Daniel Loeb’s Third Point is raising its first dedicated venture capital fund, targeting as much as $300m for the vehicle, according to people briefed on the matter. Third Point is aiming to complete its first round of fundraising as soon as February. The new fund is the latest example of a hedge fund manager moving deeper into Silicon Valley as public market investors seek new sources of returns in private markets. (Financial Times)
European banks are doing something that got them into trouble years ago: loading up on government debt, a trade investors call the “doom loop.” Banks in the eurozone, stuffed with excess cash thanks to Covid-19 central bank relief efforts, bought close to €200 billion in government debt of their home countries in the year to September, raising their holdings by 19% to €1.2 trillion. The fear is that behind the support lies increasingly fragile government finances, as countries borrow aggressively to counteract the pandemic. (Wall Street Journal)
With American hospitals once again at the breaking point amidst the largest surge in Covid-19 cases yet, private equity players in the healthcare space are looking for resilience and continuity in 2021. Specifically, sponsors are focused on digital technologies, home healthcare, and value-based care. Meanwhile, the outlook for demand in the private equity secondaries market throughout 2021 – and in particular, H1 2021 – is very strong, with buyers looking to deploy $61 billion in 2021. (MedCity News, Private Equity Wire)
Windfall profits and deadly risks: How the biggest retail companies are compensating essential workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. While top retail companies’ profits have soared during the pandemic, pay for their frontline workers—in most cases—has not. In total, the top retail companies in our analysis earned on average an extra $16.7 billion in profit this year compared to last—a stunning 40% increase—while stock prices are up an average of 33%. And with few exceptions, frontline retail workers have seen little of this windfall. The 13 companies we studied raised pay for their frontline workers by an average of just $1.11 per hour since the pandemic began—a 10% increase on top of wages that are often too low to meet a family’s basic needs. On average, it has been 133 days since the retail workers in our analysis last received any hazard pay. (Brookings)
Technology
Spending on apps across Apple’s App Store and Google Play rose 34.5% at Christmas — nearly double last year’s growth rate. Roblox was the top mobile game, which should intensify anticipation for Roblox’s IPO. Meanwhile, over Christmas holiday, Apptopia says HBO Max had ~554K app signups; Sensor Tower says Disney+ had ~2.3M global app installations, up 28% from prior weekend. (Sensor Tower, The Information, Bloomberg)
The top nine streaming services will end 2020 with combined U.S. subscribers up 50%+ YoY; US households now subscribe to 3.1 services on average, up from 2.7 in 2019. (Wall Street Journal)
Amazon agreed to acquire podcast producer Wondery for about $300 million, Amazon’s latest move to beef up its audio offerings. Founded in 2016, Wondery is one of several audio startups that blossomed in recent years as podcasting caught on with advertisers and listeners. (Wall Street Journal)
What to make of a year of divisive Section 230 proposals? Section 230 says: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” There were at least 17 serious Section 230 proposals this year. This write up helps make sense of the arguments that likely will be unavoidable in 2021. (Protocol, 47 U.S.C. § 230)
France resumed collecting its digital-services tax on U.S. companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Google. Other countries, including Italy and the U.K., whose similar taxes went into effect this year, are also set to begin collection. The U.S., meanwhile, is set on Jan. 6 to impose tariffs on $1.3 billion of French imports, including cosmetics and handbags. (Wall Street Journal)
These were the largest funding rounds of 2020: Reliance Jio: $5.7 billion; Rivian: $2.5 billion; Ke(dot)com: $2.4 billion; Waymo: $2.25 billion; SpaceX: $1.9 billion; Manbang Group: $1.7 billion; Zuoyebang: $1.6 billion; Epic Games: $1.53 billion; Tianqi Lithium Australia: $1.4 billion; WM Motor: $1.5 billion. (Crunchbase)
Smart Links
California leaders fear remote culture could fuel business departures. (Politico)
Books were big in 2020: Audiobooks revenue is up 17%+ YoY; e-book sales are up 16%+; U.S. print book sales are up ~8%. (New York Times)
Discovery boosts theory that life on Earth arose from RNA-DNA mix. (Scripps Research Institute)
Obesity rates continue to rise among Americans. (MedPage Today)
Gallup's top 10 U.S. findings of 2020. (Gallup)
Adobe will no longer support Flash animation starting today. (Los Angeles Times)