Mobilizing finance to talk about the treatment of a pandemic such as COVID-19 may seem trivial, but the conclusions that can be drawn from it are not. For pharmas, it is necessary to go beyond the mere consideration of identified benefits in the allocation of resources, especially in intangible investment (technology, skills, etc.).
The most remarkable phenomenon in Zoom's financial ascent has been seen in the last 7 weeks or so. The evolution of COVID19 has not yet produced its effects on the stock markets, with the stock market crash only starting on 21 February. On the other hand, Zoom will see its share price rise by $70 on January 27th to reach a peak of $125 on March 5th, before falling back to $107 on March 13th. Forced or voluntary isolation, telecommuting and limited contact have shown the tremendous tool that videoconferencing is and Zoom, among others, has gained business credibility with clients and markets alike.
With a market capitalization of over $200 billion, Toyota leads the automotive sector, far ahead of the German firm VAG, which produces slightly more vehicles (10.8 million, compared to 10.7 million for Toyota) but whose market value is just over $90 billion. VAG was number 2 until the beginning of December 2019. At that time, Tesla's stock price was $336, which represented a capitalization of $60 billion.
Lee Iaccoca, who died last July, became a legend in the US auto industry in 1978, when he turned around Chrysler (with a billion dollar boost from the government...) at the time it was in the throes of collapse. What would he think of dissolving his company in a merger with several international companies in a context of globalization?
On August 15, Harry Markopolos, a well-known whistleblower, predicted the imminent end of General Electric in a report entitled "General Electric, a bigger fraud than Enron". The paper caused quite a stir but seemed to be just a few circles in the water.
With a delay announced in February, the firm published in June its final accounts 2018, including a restatement on the accounts 2016 and 2017. No significant change on the latter, the net earnings per share down from $ 9.03 to $ 8.98 for 2017.