Chris Hughes

The telecoms sector is proving a rich hunting ground for bidders and bankers. Surely stock-market investors can put up more resistance. Reliance Industries, the Indian conglomerate led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, denied a report it was mulling an offer for BT Group Plc on Monday, but the UK…

Progress on Covid-19 vaccines has been wonderful for the world, but in financial markets it has dulled enthusiasm for firms whose business involves virus testing. Now two of Europe’s big Covid-19 diagnostics firms — German-listed Qiagen NV and France’s BioMerieux — are mulling a union. The snag is…

The widespread and enduring failings in Credit Suisse Group AG’s risk management exposed by the Archegos scandal were laid out in all their gory detail on Thursday. The Swiss bank has started addressing each weakness one by one. What's needed is for these measures to coalesce into a total cultural…

The pandemic forced employers to embrace flexibility in working location, but a related concept — flexibility of working hours — is far from being the norm. As big firms encourage staff back to the office, pressure for adjustable work schedules could mount. Many bosses want staff back on site,…

The tone at the top sets the culture of the firm. Over at the UK arm of KPMG, the top has been sounding pretty tone deaf. The “Big Four” accountancy firm announced on Friday the resignation of Chairman Bill Michael after the Financial Times reported that he told staff to stop moaning about the…

AstraZeneca Plc was always going to do another deal one day, but few followers of the UK drugmaker expected this: It’s splashing out $39 billion in cash and stock for US rare-disease specialist Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. in its biggest acquisition ever. AstraZeneca already has one of the…

AstraZeneca Plc’s work to turn Oxford University research into a widely distributed vaccine against Covid-19 may be financially cost-free for the British drugmaker thanks to funding from outside sources. But it clearly has taken on some additional reputational risk. The presentation of late…