10 global business issues at the intersection of globalization, disruption, and politics.
Geopolitical Communications + Intelligence
1. BP takes a $25.5 billion hit from its decision to exit its Russia holdings: BP is among more than 850 Western companies that have cut ties with Russia following its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, according to a widely followed list from Yale University. For BP, the decision to leave Russia ended three decades of collaboration.
2. CIA Director Burns made an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia last month to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: For Team Biden, Burns gets the most demanding assignments.
3. If CEOs found Florida v Disney challenging, just wait for Roe v Wade: The Supreme Court's forthcoming abortion ruling will put Corporate America in a vise. CEOs will be squeezed between employees pressuring companies to speak out and state governments that might punish them if they do.
4. The worst drought ravages the Horn of Africa in four decades: Up to 20 million people could go hungry as delayed rains exacerbate fallout from the war in Ukraine. The Ukraine conflict threatens to increase food prices and push the cost of fertilizer beyond the means of millions of farmers, threatening next year's harvest.
5. The study of climate change and sustainability is the new computer science: John Doerr, one of the most successful venture capitalists in the history of Silicon Valley, is giving $1.1 billion to Stanford University to fund a school focused on climate change and sustainability. The gift will place Stanford at the center of public and private efforts to wean the world off fossil fuels.
6. Persistent supply chain bottlenecks hamper VW's EV sales: Volkswagen, the world's second-largest electric vehicle manufacturer by volume, has "sold out" of battery-powered models in the US and Europe for this year.
7. Binance to invest $500 million together with Elon Musk in Twitter takeover: Clearly, Musk doesn't see Twitter as just a comms platform. All signs point to e-commerce and financial services being added to the platform.
8. Some of the biggest names in bitcoin — including Jack Dorsey, Tom Lee, and Michael Saylor — have co-authored a letter to the EPA: The letter refutes claims made by House Democrats calling on the EPA to investigate the environmental effects of crypto mining. Bitcoin miners suggest that regulating what data centers allow their computers to do would be a massive shift in policy in the United States.
9. The Bank of England has predicted that UK inflation will hit 10%: The BOE also forecasts that the UK economy will contract later this year while raising interest rates from 0.75% to 1%.
Also, this week, the US Federal Reserve announced its most significant interest rate rise in 22 years.
Analysts fear higher interest rates that could hamper the economy but fail to reduce the price hikes meaningfully - Think high inflation and low growth.
10. Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez's phone was hacked using Pegasus spyware: This is the first confirmed use of the espionage software against a serving head of government.
Israel's NSO Group developed Pegasus as a cyber tool used by authorized governments to fight terrorism and crime.
The spyware can breach mobile phones without the owner's knowledge and then harvest data on the device and transmit it to the attacker - even real-time surveillance by activating microphones and cameras.
As Neil McCauley said in Heat:
"Assume they got our phones, assume they got our houses, assume they got us, right here, right now as we sit, everything. Assume it all."
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Caracal is a geopolitical communications firm specializing in global business issues at the intersection of globalization, disruption, and politics.
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