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The World
The Group of Seven leading industrial democracies warned Russia of “massive consequences” and “severe cost” if it launches an attack on Ukraine, a day before President Biden’s top diplomat for Europe travels to Kyiv and Moscow to address the high-stakes standoff. The joint statement from G-7 ministers said they are united in their opposition to Russia’s military buildup near the border of Ukraine and called on the Kremlin to de-escalate. (Washington Post)
Ukraine’s new defense minister has blamed Germany for blocking the supply of weaponry to Kyiv through NATO, despite U.S. warnings of a possible imminent invasion by Russian forces. Oleksii Reznikov told the Financial Times that Berlin had in the past month vetoed Ukraine’s purchase of anti-drone rifles and anti-sniper systems via the NATO Support and Procurement Agency. However, Germany had since relented on the first item, after deeming it non-lethal. (Financial Times)
Taiwan, tariffs, boycotts: Chinese scholars expect more strife with US in 2022. Experts at forum predict tensions will continue in the new year, with most expecting Joe Biden to maintain or step up his predecessor’s tough policies on China. After a virtual meeting of the countries’ presidents raised hopes of a thaw in relations, events since, and those on the horizon, suggest otherwise. (South China Morning Post)
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with the United Arab Emirates’ top diplomat as he became the first Israeli premier to officially visit Abu Dhabi. Bennett was greeted at the airport by Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and an honor guard after landing. Bennett’s visit also comes as Israel and its Gulf allies fret about Iran’s nuclear program. Talks between Iran and world powers stalled again last week. Israel and the UAE forged ties in the United States-brokered Abraham Accords last year, bringing over a decade of covert contacts into the open. (Times of Israel)
The U.K. government raised its official coronavirus alert level, citing an increase in cases largely driven by the Omicron variant. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned during a briefing Sunday evening that “there is a tidal wave of Omicron coming.” Johnson announced that everyone in England over the age of 18 will be able to sign up for a booster beginning today. (Axios)
The head of the European Space Agency has urged the continent’s leaders to stop facilitating Elon Musk’s ambition to dominate the new space economy, warning that the lack of co-ordinated action meant the billionaire was “making the rules” himself. Josef Aschbacher, the new director-general of ESA, said that Europe’s readiness to help the rapid expansion of Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service risked hindering the region’s own companies from realising the potential of commercial space. (Financial Times)
The population of foreign-born citizens and residents in the U.S. has plummeted for the first time in over a decade, according to analysis of new experimental U.S. Census Bureau data. The new data from the American Community Survey (ACS) also revealed the smallest decade gain in the foreign-born population since the 1960s, at 3.6 million. In comparison, the immigrant population grew by 8.8 million during the 2000s. (Axios)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi will stay until at least after the midterm elections, extending her nearly 20-year run as the House's top Democrat after she turns 82 and, perhaps, beyond. And sources familiar with Pelosi's thinking say she isn't ruling out the possibility of trying to stay in leadership after 2022, despite her original vow to leave as the top House Democrat. (CNN)
The state of gig work in 2021: Some 16% of Americans have ever earned money from an online gig platform. Those who earn money through these apps or websites vary by age, race, ethnicity and household income. While most gig platform workers say they have had a positive experience with these jobs, some report facing on-the-job troubles like being treated rudely or sexually harassed, or express concern about getting the coronavirus while completing jobs. (Pew Research Center)
Economy
Women now account for a majority of independent directors at Britain’s largest public companies. The biggest 150 groups listed on the stock market now employ 442 female non-executive directors, compared with 422 men, a Spencer Stuart report shows. The gender balance among non- executives has flipped after boards embarked on a hiring spree in the year to April. 52% of newly appointed directors were women, with 15 boards achieving gender parity, five more than the previous year. Women now make up 36% of all directors, including chairwomen and executive directors, compared with 24% in 2016 and 12% a decade ago. (The Times)
Business sentiment among Japan's large manufacturers has plateaued after five straight quarters of improvement, according to the Bank of Japan's latest Tankan survey. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Stock buybacks are back: Companies in the S&P 500 repurchased $234.5 billion in shares during 3Q21, topping the previous record of $223 billion in 4Q18. The wave of share repurchases has helped propel U.S. stock indexes to dozens of records in 2021. The S&P 500 is up 25% this year, notching 67 record closes. (Wall Street Journal)
The popular stock metric that can lead investors astray: Investors may rely too heavily on a financial measure that no longer reflects the economic fundamentals of modern business. The book-to-market ratio has been used since at least the Great Depression to identify undervalued stocks. But it has become so detached from a modern economy driven by research and intellectual property that it no longer accurately signals so-called value stocks, suggests new research from Charles C.Y. Wang, Harvard Business School’s Glenn and Mary Jane Creamer Associate Professor of Business Administration. (Harvard Business School)
If the office is really a think of the past, these investors will make a killing. As leases expire and workers stay home, already sky-high vacancy rates could go higher—and stay there. Some developers see an opportunity as competitors pull back. The Empire State Building, completed in 1931, has seen 15 recessions. Jonathan Litt thinks the pandemic could be the event that makes a long-term dent in the building’s fortunes. The hedge-fund manager is shorting the building’s publicly traded owner, Empire State Realty Trust Inc. He is among a small but growing group of investors who believe the Covid-19 pandemic will drastically reduce demand for office space for years to come, and that markets underestimate the risk. (Wall Street Journal)
The Best-Managed Companies of 2021—and How They Made It to the Top: Microsoft is on top once again in the Drucker Institute’s annual Management Top 250 ranking. Among the biggest losers this year: AT&T and ExxonMobil. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Want hybrid work to succeed? Trust, don’t track, employees. Applying lessons gleaned from decades of research, along with the shared reality of millions of workers over the past several months, managers should keep three things in mind as they develop long-term plans for hybrid work: 1) Trust in employee autonomy; 2) Stop counting ‘butts in seats’; 3) Support work-life wellbeing. (Harvard Business School)
Beamery, a London-based talent management platform, recently released its “Talent Trap Report,” surveying over 500 senior executives about their thoughts on talent and hiring. 81% of the execs surveyed said talent was their current priority when it came to business objectives. Around 30% of those surveyed in the U.S. said they feel anywhere from a quarter to one-half of their employees are “holding their organization back due a lack of skills or appropriate mindset.” 83% of those surveyed still fear talent loss within their organizations. More specifically, 57% of the respondents said they primarily fear the potential of losing their middle managers. (Protocol)
An analysis of 166 tech IPOs from 2010 to 2019: the 30 most valuable startups raised half as much capital and produced nearly 4X the value as the 30 most funded. (Founder Collective)
Smart Links
Millennials overtake Boomers, Gen X as biggest buyers of pickup trucks in U.S. for first time. (CNBC)
Delta Air Lines to strip SkyMiles rewards on basic economy tickets. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Superyacht industry booms during pandemic. (The Guardian)
WSJ to launch commerce initiative with product recommendations, join rivals that have built e-commerce operations. (Wall Street Journal)
80% of Gen Z workers say they’ve taken a nap on the job. (CNBC)
Could Peloton sue over its “And Just Like That” appearance? (New York Times)