Corporate governance - Vigil

Shopify Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp. joined Air Canada in reporting a hefty pile of cash and short-term investments at the end of the quarter. It’s the first time that many non-financial companies on the S&P/TSX Composite Index have been so flush in the last 25 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The UK competition watchdog has taken full control over the review of a proposed £31bn merger between Virgin Media and telecoms operator O2 and agreed to fast-track its probe after both companies sought to speed up the process when it moved to London from Brussels.

Sweden has been an unlikely rebel

The German stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse said on Tuesday it would acquire an 80% stake in Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) for about $1.8 billion, the latest in a flurry of deals to sweep across the exchange industry.

The strongest board-CEO relationships are rooted in an understanding of each other’s expectations and challenges. As a corporate director, having experience as a CEO can lend some of this valuable perspective – and vice versa. What can all board members do to strengthen that connection?

Canada’s annual inflation rate unexpectedly accelerated to 0.7 per cent in October, up from a year-over-year increase of 0.5 per cent in September, mainly on higher food prices, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.

Britain will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030, five years earlier than previously planned, as part of what Prime Minister Boris Johnson is casting as a “green revolution” to cut emissions to net zero by 2050.

Early in what is proving to be an unsuccessful hostile run at Cogeco Inc. and subsidiary Cogeco Communications Inc., U.S. cable kingpin Dexter Goei made a telling comment about family businesses.

But countries need to commit to more cuts on emissions

The new boss deserves credit for largely sticking with a successful strategy

Ericsson’s CEO said Sweden’s decision to ban China’s Huawei from its 5G telecoms networks restricts free competition and trade, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the increased spread of the coronavirus posed an important risk to the economy in the months ahead and said it was too soon to say how a potential vaccine would change the outlook.

Jeff Bezos just announced the first grants from a planned $10 billion climate change fund, and Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and renewable energy company Tesla is to become the largest-ever added to the S&P 500.

Paris and Zurich rejoin Hong Kong at the top of the latest ranking

The chief executives of the seven largest U.S. airlines made a fresh plea for more payroll relief before the end of the year and pointed to the challenges of distributing a COVID-19 vaccine in a letter to Congressional leaders on Wednesday.

Norway’s $1.2tn oil fund will significantly increase its use of external asset managers next year as the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund seeks to boost its returns.

Formerly known as Encana, Ovintiv is the poster child for all that ails the North American exploration and production sector, investor says

The profound economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic has rendered fiscal projections beyond the current fiscal year highly unreliable. But it is a reasonable bet that overall provincial debt levels could rise by $200-billion by 2023, with more than half of that total coming from Ontario. The province’s net debt-to-gross-domestic-product ratio is projected to rise to 49.5 per cent in 2023, from 39.6 per cent before the pandemic.

The chief executive of Rogers Communications Inc. says he’s disappointed that the family that controls Quebec-based cable operator Cogeco was unwilling to discuss a proposed $11.1-billion takeover offer.

Canada’s biggest patent holder, BlackBerry Ltd., is looking to unload most of its intellectual property in a deal that could mark another turning point for the fallen former smartphone giant.

But countries need to commit to more cuts on emissions

Unilever is aiming to increase its annual sales of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives to €1bn in five to seven years, intensifying the battle for the plates of climate-conscious consumers.

For millions of working women, the coronavirus pandemic has delivered a rare and ruinous one-two-three punch.