The time lapse has been way too long. However, it is great to see British regulators, freed from the shackles of the European Union, assert their independence.
The CEO of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Sarah Cardell, has come under fire from MPs, Microsoft and sections of the media.
The watchdog has reportedly created a hostile environment for investment in Britain by daring to deviate from Brussels by blocking Microsoft’s proposed £55bn mega takeover of game developer Activision Blizzard.
In another part of the forest, the city’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, is under attack by board mavens for having the guts to strip down regulations that have discouraged listings on the London Stock Exchange.
As Sarah Pritchard, the FCA’s market boss, points out, it shows that markets “like nickel coins” don’t stand still.
Game over: The Competition and Markets Authority blocked Microsoft’s proposed £55bn mega takeover of gaming maker Activision Blizzard
No one knows for sure what the US antitrust regulator, the Federal Trade Commission, will ultimately make of Activision’s Microsoft deal.
Cardell argues that it thinks along the same lines as the CMA, which is that Microsoft’s commitments to share with rivals will never be robust enough.
The concern should be that the £1.9 trillion behemoth could eventually set the terms of trade for the entire, fugitive, cloud gaming industry.
In the American system, one can never trust that politics and lobbying, especially in the 18-month run up to a presidential election, will not determine the outcome.
While fuel prices at the pumps and the cost of food have escalated, there have been denials by the economic establishment that ‘greed’ has taken place in the UK.
Perhaps, but the CMA as a protector of consumer interest is to look at fuel prices at supermarket gas stations, as well as the cost of food.
The rise in UK grocery bills, at an annual rate of 19 per cent, was the strongest since 1977 and hit the lowest income households hard.
Weak regulation and intervention is a feature of public life, which undermined the free market and privatization reforms of the Thatcher era. Westminster spends endless time scrutinizing politicians’ peccadilloes.
Far too little is being done for the consumer and the public interest. Too late, John Penrose, the czar of competition, is demanding that Britain’s water and energy watchdogs be given more powers to crack down on utilities that rip off consumers, pollute our waterways with sewage and damage the economy.
It all seems too little, too late. By allowing predatory corporations and Bolshee unions to trample civil rights like a universal postal service, the Tory government and regulators have given a political gift to enemies of free enterprise.
Mobile standstill
Newly minted Vodafone chief executive Margherita Della Valle is fighting.
She vows to make the telecom giant more efficient by cutting jobs, easing bureaucratic burdens and focusing on delivering to customers. As so often in the past, investors are not impressed.
The big prize for Voda is improving pedestrian performance in Germany, where Della Valle’s predecessors doubled in 2019 with the £16bn purchase of the Liberty cable network.
The idea that this would be the spark to propel the mobile company’s fortunes has proven to be a chimera.
Ownership of cable networks in an age of streaming and cord cutting – canceling regular subscriptions – isn’t ideal.
Since its inception, Vodafone has been both a deal maker and a mobile operator, and old habits persist. The strategic review to Spain, where there were seven operators at last count, looks like a trip to the exit.
In the UK, where business is brisk, efforts are still underway to finalize a merger with Hutchison-owned Three. How this will turn out for the competition authorities is anyone’s guess.
What has upset the market the most is the free cash flow quarrel for 2024, cut from £3.3bn to £2.9bn.
The reason? Germany.
Shopping list
Hybrid working and the impact on the London-dominated portfolio is taking its toll on Land Securities, the grand dame of British real estate.
In an effort to counter the current colder climate for office space, the company is putting its faith in prime retail by increasing its exposure from the current 18 percent to a maximum of 25 percent in hopes of profiting from improving rental values.
Speak up for retail therapy.
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