Month: November 2020

Hugo is furious.

He’s sitting across from me, arms crossed, face scowling, exuding bad energy. Sitting next to him is Maia. She’s signing the praises of a third colleague Denise, who is up for a promotion. “She gets glowing reviews from her supervisors. She’s clearly overdue for this promotion. I’ve worked a lot with her and think she’s ready.”

Hugo does not agree. “I have a lot of reservations about Denise,” he says. “In a recent meeting she just shut me down. She’s so…aggressive. And that accent….”

“Okay…let’s not get personal, and instead focus on her work accomplishments!,” I hear myself say in a pitched tone my children would be familiar with. “Have you seen her run meetings before, and what has your impression been?,” I say, gesturing to the woman and suddenly fumbling both their names. My blood pressure begins to rise. Hugo continues to glower … Read More

Encouraging vaccine news has Wall Street searching for stocks to play the rebound—scouring the market for names that have been beaten up amid the pandemic but poised to boom once things return to normal.

Katie Koch, cohead of fundamental equity at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, is feeling bullish on trades that bank on a surge in pent-up demand among an increasingly powerful cohort of spenders: Millennials.

Koch calls them the “world’s most powerful consumer,” and believes the group will become “increasingly dominant” in the marketplace over the next 10 years. But these millennials aren’t all materially obsessed, she argues.

“This is a generation of people that value experiences over things,” Koch tells Fortune. Those experiences, namely concerts and travel, have been “off limits” this year, but she believes “not only is it going to go back to normal, it may actually supersede that for some period of time … Read More

SoftBank Group Corp. rose to a fresh 20-year high as the recent stock market surge boosted the value of holdings like Uber Technologies Inc. and brightened the prospects for portfolio companies going public.

The U.S. ride-hailing pioneer recovered from stumbles after its initial public offering last year and its shares have gained more than 70% this year. Softbank’s 13% stake is worth about $11 billion. The Japanese company is also a major shareholder in U.S. delivery giant DoorDash Inc., which filed to go public this month. SoftBank’s stock gained 2.3% to 7,250 yen on Friday, the highest level since March of 2000 in the midst of the dot-com boom.

Citigroup Inc. earlier this week raised its target price on SoftBank to 11,000 yen from 10,200 yen, citing improved earnings prospects at the Tokyo-based company’s investments business. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its target to 9,100 yen from 8,190 yen citing the … Read More