Rational Radio

Flash Briefing: Glencore spills Gupta beans; Trump called "a conman"; Six Africans among world's richest; Metrobank shares plunge 26%.

In today’s global business headlines….. US president Donald Trump was described as a conman, a racist and a liar by his personal lawyer of 10 years, Michael Cohen in testimony before Congress yesterday. Six Africans feature on Bloomberg’s list of the world’s 500 richest people released yesterday. The share price…

27 Feb 2019 4 min

Flash Briefing: Musk swings back at SEC; Jacko's Neverland at 70% discount; Trump's ex-lawyer exposes criminality; Brexit "No Deal" scotched

In today’s global business headlines… Pound Sterling gained more than one percent against the US Dollar yesterday after fears of a No Deal Brexit evaporated. On the other side of the Atlantic, US president Donald Trump is about to be publicly accused of criminal conduct by his long-time lawyer and…

26 Feb 2019 4 min

Premium: Full transcript, audio of Alec Hogg's post-Davos SA presentations

Six presentations across South Africa in 10 days is about as intense a programme as I've had. But the message from Davos and afterwards was certainly heard: this remarkable country is on the mend and the smart money is already paying attention. We kicked off the post-Davos talks in Durban,…

26 Feb 2019 1 hr 05 min

Flash Briefing: Saffer launches $18bn hostile takeover; Helios Towers investing $100m into SA; Buffett admits over-paying; GE in $21bn biopharm exit

South African mining boss and recently appointed Barrick CEO Mark Bristow yesterday launched gold mining’s biggest ever hostile takeover bid. Once universally admired American conglomerate General Electric last night announced a major step towards breaking into smaller chunks by agreeing the $21bn sale of its life sciences business. Berkshire Hathaway…

25 Feb 2019 4 min

Flash Briefing: Facebook caught cheating (again); KKR tipped for ASDA; Eskom plunderers attacked; Buffett's share buybacks

Facebook is in trouble again, this time after an investigation by the Wall Street Journal revealed it is harvesting deeply personal material from people who don’t even have an account with Mark Zuckerberg’s creation. US private equity group KKR is being tipped as the likely buyer of Walmart’s British supermarket…

24 Feb 2019 4 min

Flash Briefing: Foldable Samsung; Buffett goes elephant hunting; Anglo stronger than expected; Barclays Brexit provision

In today's global headlines... Samsung has revealed its new foldable phone that resembles a conventional cellphone, but it folds open like a book to reveal a small tablet of 18.5 cm. Warren Buffet is on the hunt for ‘elephants’. No not the big 5 variety, that is what he calls…

21 Feb 2019 3 min

Flash Briefing: Eskom bailout in world headlines; UBS hit with record fine; Glencore caves to activists; Dynamite in US Fed Minutes

In today’s business headlines… The Minutes of last month’s US Federal Reserve interest rate meeting, released yesterday, disclose that members agreed to pause the tightening phase until there is more clarity on emerging risks to economic growth. Swiss bank UBS has been fined a record $4.2bn for encouraging wealthy French…

20 Feb 2019 3 min

Flash Briefing: AMCU wants sympathy strikes; Sanders for President; Walmart best 4Q in 15 years; Fashion mourns Lagerfeld.

In today's headlines... On Twitter last night anti-establishment politician Bernie Sanders announced his candidacy to become American President in 2020. Retail giant Walmart yesterday calmed the nerves of investors worrying about a slowdown in the US economy, announcing a 4.2% rise in revenues for the three months to end December…

19 Feb 2019 4 min

Flash Briefing: Split in UK Labour Party; 8 arrests in $2bn Mozam Tuna Bond scandal; Aussie Parly hacked by hostile state; Honda closes in UK

In today’s global business headlines… The UK yesterday experienced its biggest political split in almost 40 years when seven members of the Labour Party walked away from the official opposition, which is led by the controversial Jeremy Corbyn. Still in the UK, the country’s struggling motor manufacturing sector took another…

18 Feb 2019 4 min

Flash Briefing: Eskom fears sabotage; Europe ignores Pence; Citi's Brexit boost; Uber growth slows

In today’s global business headlines… Fault lines continue to widen between the United States of America and its traditional western allies. In Germany over the weekend, US vice president Mike Pence’s call to ratchet up pressure on Iran was brushed off by the Europeans. Brexit supporters are celebrating yesterday’s news…

17 Feb 2019 4 min

Meet Mike Sharman: Advertising visionary helping to spark a revolution.

Marketers have long known that we listen more carefully to the advice of those we trust than messages from corporates trying to sell us their wares. So, for decades they’ve drawn on endorsements by celebrities, primarily movie stars and athletes, to generate additional sales for their clients. The digital age…

17 Feb 2019 27 min

Flash Briefing: CR trying to charm Eskom unions; Airbus pulls plug on A380; Amazon abandons NYC; AliBaba buys big in UK

In today’s global business headlines… Within three years European aircraft builder Airbus is to abandon its $16bn project which produces the A380, the world’s biggest plane. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s February got even worse yesterday when his group buckled to political resistance and dropped plans to build a new HQ…

14 Feb 2019 4 min

Flash Briefing: WBHO shares drop 17%; Levi's to relist; EU to make Brexit concessions; Teva goes for biotech

In today’s global business headlines… With just six weeks to go before Brexit is enacted, the European Union is reportedly preparing to make further concessions. Shares in iconic jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co are set to return to the public markets later this year, more than three decades after…

13 Feb 2019 3 min

Flash Briefing: US stocks surge; Eskom asks Italians to help; China hedging Venezuela bets; SA withdraws ECA Bill

In today’s global business headlines… US share prices rose strongly last night, with the three major indices gaining almost 1.5%. After decades of steadfast support for the socialist regime in Venezuela, China is now hedging its bets on tyrant Nicolas Maduro. Italian energy group Enel SpA has been called in…

12 Feb 2019 3 min

Flash Briefing: Moody's says Eskom restructuring not enough; Tencent invests in Reddit; Morgan Stanley buys big; Ports prepare for rising sea levels

In today’s global business headlines… Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley yesterday announced its biggest acquisition since the global financial crisis with the $900m purchase of Canadian-headquartered Solium. While the debate about the impact of global warming continues to rage, ports around the US aren’t taking any chances after the…

11 Feb 2019 3 min

Flash Briefing: Bulls back for US stocks; MTN to list Africa's Amazon in NY; Write off demanded on corrupt $2bn Mozam loan; Brazil in radical free mar..

In today’s global business headlines… Wall Street analysts are pointing to a raft of technical indicators suggesting the stock market has re-entered a bull trend just four months after September’s sharp reverse. Brazil is embarking on sweeping free market reforms including an overhaul of pensions, radical tax reform and wide-scale…

10 Feb 2019 4 min

What an African billionaire wants from their Joburg super home

In April last year I did a sponsored interview with Rory O’Hagan, former private banker who switched to selling super homes for estate agency Chas Everitt. He showed me around his prized project, a R100m plus palace on Johannesburg’s Houghton Ridge called Gatsby. I made a mental note to revisit…

9 Feb 2019 14 min

The Editor's Desk: The Total gas strike will change SA forever

In a week dominated by Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), another explosive piece of news hit the headlines: Total have struck a major oil and gas deposit off the Southern Cape. As a net oil importer, South Africa has long sought its own oil and gas deposits,…

9 Feb 2019 22 min

Flash Briefing: SA's gas strike joy; WeWork opening in Jhb; Twitter drops 10%; Secret Brexit no deal stimulus plan

In today’s global business headlines…… South Africa’s wait for a meaningful oil and gas discovery ended yesterday when the consortium headed by Total announced a gas find of about a billion barrels of oil equivalent with four more exciting prospects in the pipeline.  Twitter yesterday reported its first full year…

7 Feb 2019 4 min

Flash Briefing: Last 5 years hottest ever; Atlas Mara buys into SA, dumps Diamond; World Bank critic becoming its MD; US techs beat Bear

Reports released last night show that recent years are the hottest ever measured – and that there is worse to come. US tech stocks have rebounded strongly in the past month and a half, taking the Nasdaq index to its second fastest reversal of a 20% decline – the definition…

6 Feb 2019 4 min