US jobs lend some certainty in an uncertain world

Still quietly great

Reuters

Attack in Nice keeps border issue front and centre

Another tragedy

Theranos just lost a lot more blood. Once worth $9 billion, the Silicon Valley hematology upstart's value was already racing to zero. Now a US health regulator is set to ban the company founded by Elizabeth Holmes from the laboratory business for two years. It's hard to reinvent technology, regulation and governance in one go.The company and its chief executive, a Stanford University dropout, rose to fame on the back of a vision of simplified, cheaper blood testing, offering faster results, requiring just the prick of a finger. Any user of standard US blood labs finds that appealing. So did early investors and potential partners, including pharmacy chain Walgreens, which ended its relationship with Theranos just weeks ago.Now the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have followed through on an earlier warning that they might shut down Theranos' California lab and ban its owner and operator from the business for two years, among other sanctions relating to the accuracy and quali

Ex-unicorn

Shaming Volkswagen could be pushy TCI's best tactic

Activist emissions

First response craft

Starboard's Yahoo flip-flop misses the point

Fliptivist

Dell may be poisoning EMC deal's golden goose

VMwary

Beats gives Apple foretaste of car-making woes

The Beaten road

Corporate divorce expenses matter beyond activism

Everything has a cost

British poll failures are applicable to finance

Poll fault

Google's Schmidt again plays adult in DE Shaw buy

Shaw thing

Hacked JPMorgan can leapfrog peers on cyber danger

Cyber charter

Kraft investors bet Heinz can refill secret sauce

Krafty deal

Sotheby's new CEO brings needed broad-brush talent

Tad unclear

Apple entry into DJIA is polish for an antiqueApple's entry into the Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA) is a bit like polishing an antique. The average share price of 30 stocks selected by committee will finally include the world's biggest company in place of AT&T. It's an overdue move for an outdated yardstick - one which, like landlines and chequebooks, lives on.The fact that Apple will replace its original iPhone telecom partner in the DJIA is a reminder of the march of time, technology and, specifically, smartphones. The change will help the Dow catch up somewhat with the importance of information technology to the broader economy. But it's a hint of the average's antiquated construction that this was prompted by a stock split planned by Visa - a move with no real-world significance.The DJIA dates from a simpler, computer-free era when working out the average of 30 stock prices counted as financial added value. Now it seems bizarre that anyone pays attention to a metric in whi

Watching the Dow

Anthem investors don't get cyber risks, either

Cyber ostriches

Business Standard

Yahoo!'s Alibaba spin-off gives Mayer one more year

Spinning the story

Bank cyberinsurance is overdue to come of age

Universally hacknowledged

United Tech shows way for other company boardsLike company bosses themselves, boards sometimes think chief executives are indispensable. Not at United Technologies. Late last month, Louis Chenevert stepped down unexpectedly. It turns out he was spending too much time thinking about the construction of his yacht and other personal matters. Kudos to the company's board for letting him go.The directors had a strong in-house replacement at hand in Gregory Hayes. That ensured that investors barely blinked at the changeover at the top of the $100-billion UTC, which makes Sikorsky helicopters and Pratt & Whitney jet engines, among other products. The main point, though, is that lead independent director Edward Kangas, now chairman, had enough courage and support from his fellow board members to challenge the CEO.Many boards only bring themselves to oust a company's top executive - especially one who's also chairman, as Chenevert was - when they are besieged by disgruntled investors and ho

Sailing too near the wind

M&A hackers attack on new front with old weaponsThere's an event-driven hedge fund operating on the anonymous Tor network. A cyber group probably seeking a trading edge is targeting confidential information on pending mergers and acquisitions. What's striking, as in many more sophisticated hacks, are the basic mistakes otherwise intelligent professionals make to let the intruders in.The group, dubbed FIN4 by cybersecurity experts at FireEye, targets the emails of top executives and advisers. Unlike widely reported recent episodes of corporate espionage believed to originate in China, FireEye suggests FIN4 is a Western operation looking for early warning on M&A and other market-moving events.With over 100 victims identified, more than two-thirds are public companies in the health care and pharmaceutical sectors where big price swings are common when deals or drug developments are announced. The vast majority are listed on US exchanges.Wall Street banks and law firms also aren't

Richard Beales

Richard Beales

Richard Beales

Still quietly great

Another tragedy

Ex-unicorn

Activist emissions

First response craft

Fliptivist

VMwary

The Beaten road

Everything has a cost

Poll fault

Shaw thing

Cyber charter

Krafty deal

Tad unclear

Watching the Dow

Cyber ostriches

Spinning the story

Universally hacknowledged

Sailing too near the wind

Mergers and hack-quisitions