3G Capital, a low-key private equity firm best known for helping Warren Buffet merge food giants Kraft and Heinz, is taking shoe company Skechers private for $9.4 billion in cash.
Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT – May 13 2025
SPOTLIGHT: DEATH OF THE DOLLAR
Asset managers are converting more of their dollar-based assets into investments in Europe, the Financial Times reported.
CHINA TECH GIANT IS BUILDING END-TO-END SUPPLY CHAIN FOR ADVANCED CHIPS
Huawei, China’s leading maker of computer chips, and two of its affiliated companies are nearing completion of three factories in Huawei’s home city of Shenzhen that will further break the country’s dependence on foreign technologies, the Financial Times was first to report.
GOING OUT OF BUSINESS TRENDS
The economic landscape has presented an array of challenges that will profoundly affect the business community this year.
WHEN THE ECONOMY FALLS, JOBS GO WITH IT
U.S.-based employers cut 105,441 positions in April with retailers cutting 7,235 jobs, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
BANK OF ENGLAND CUTS INTEREST RATE FOR A FOURTH TIME
On 8 May, the Bank of England (BoE) cut its policy interest rate from 4.5 percent to 4.25 percent, the fourth reduction in the rate-setting committee’s last seven meetings.
RUSSIA TRIPLES ITS BUDGET DEFICIT AS OIL PRICES TUMBLE
The Kremlin will allow Russia’s budget deficit to more than triple this year from 0.5 percent of GDP to 1.7 percent as oil prices are projected to remain in their current $60 neighborhood for weeks or months to come.
PRIVATE EQUITY READY TO FUND EUROPE’S REARMAMENT
As the U.S. has indicated it will scale back its military defense of Europe, the continent’s capitals are preparing to spend billions to expand their own defense capacities and take a larger role in supporting the Ukraine War and selling the line to the public that if Russia is not defeated they will invade Europe.
SPECIAL REPORT: TRUMP’S TARIFFS, THE UPS AND DOWNS, FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE
The U.S. has temporarily reduced its tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 percent to 30 percent and China has slashed its import fees on U.S. goods from 125 percent to 10 percent.