Sorry for the title. It’s not very original. Everyone’s been using that for the last decade, but still it seems appropriate. Every January I’ve made a post predicting the year ahead. I normally write this in December and publish it at the beginning of the year. It normally makes a few tongue in cheek exaggerations to in order to raise a smile. I stole this idea from Old Knights Almanac that used to appear each year in the RETRA magazine [Link ]
Today is the day we leave the European Union. My advice is to ignore this and go and buy today’s FT. It has many stories that summarise the transition we’ve witnessed and sets out the stall for next year. Below I’ve taken extracts and headlines and they tell the story. The one thing not mentioned is the UK Government’s industrial strategy, more on that in another post. Oh, and my watch phrase for this decade is “Society 5.0” – I think we’ll be hearing more about this in the comming while.
First here is an extract from this story (https://www.ft.com/content/b64b692e-4387-11ea-abea-0c7a29cd66fe).
This caught my eye because it illustrates the emerging tech leadership that is flowing from a very entrepreneurial and exceedingly smart China, the comming tech trade-wars and how there is a shift in earnings among tech players reflective of the shift in tech approaches – showing even when you are the innovator you have to keep innovating!
BT has said the cost of implementing the UK government’s cap on the use of Huawei equipment will cost it £500m over the next five years as it reported its third quarter figures.
[…]
There’s a bumper crop of earnings to report: Microsoft reported a 14 per cent advance in revenues, to $36.9bn, helped by cloud revenues which grew 39 per cent to $12.5bn, Tesla has notched up its first-ever back-to-back quarterly net profits. The electric car pioneer called 2019 “a turning point”. AT&T’s entertainment business WarnerMedia revealed a $1.2bn hit due to costly investments in its upcoming streaming service to rival Netflix. Nintendo’s quarterly operating profit rose 6 per cent to $1.5bn, missing expectations. Samsung Electronics confirmed its fifth straight quarterly decline in profits but said it expected memory market conditions to improve in 2020.
To avoid the risk of plagiarism I am going to direct you to today’s FT (go buy a copy or have Amazon deliver you one). The headlines from these stories paint the picture and tell the story all by themselves.
Why Microsoft and Tesla are the decade’s big disrupters
https://www.ft.com/content/b3e659fc-4380-11ea-a43a-c4b328d9061c
Ginni Rometty steps down as IBM tackles cloud era
https://www.ft.com/content/aabee59a-43aa-11ea-abea-0c7a29cd66fe
Rich and famous turn to ‘personal cyber security’ to protect phones
https://www.ft.com/content/96c79040-40ea-11ea-bdb5-169ba7be433d
The Apple effect: Germany fears being left behind by Big Tech
https://www.ft.com/content/6f69433a-40f0-11ea-a047-eae9bd51ceba
Elon Musk jolted by German protests over Tesla factory plan
https://www.ft.com/content/8b10555e-4345-11ea-abea-0c7a29cd66fe
The UK’s employment and productivity puzzle
https://www.ft.com/content/a470b09a-4276-11ea-a43a-c4b328d9061c
For today’s oil market the real threat is to demand, not supply
https://www.ft.com/content/5bf49cb0-41cb-11ea-bdb5-169ba7be433d
Shell to slow investor payouts after earnings fall 50%
https://www.ft.com/content/4e1fa700-4334-11ea-a43a-c4b328d9061
Orsted/offshore wind: Go-Greta:
(Henrik Poulsen has turned a national oil company into the world’s largest offshore wind builder and green energy champion)
https://www.ft.com/content/719dd81d-2527-4b83-8aed-e6624476c191
Competition rules stymie co-operation on climate goals
https://www.ft.com/content/b3e0da9c-3eba-11ea-b84f-a62c46f39bc2
I wish you a healthy, hearty,happy and prosperous 2020.
