Date : 4/17/2019 5:02:59 PM
From : "The Economist this week"
To : itai_veruv@mail.gov.il
Subject : Tech unicorns have it all—except a path to high profits

Our cover this week runs a ruler over the tech unicorns—privately held firms worth over $1bn. Next month Uber will raise some $10bn in what may be this year’s biggest initial public offering.
   
April 17th 2019 Read in browser
   
  The Economist this week  
 
  Highlights from the latest issue  
   
 
     
  cover-image   
     
  Our cover this week runs a ruler over the tech unicorns—privately held firms worth over $1bn. Next month Uber will raise some $10bn in what may be this year’s biggest initial public offering. Airbnb and WeWork could follow Lyft, which has already floated, and Pinterest, which is about to do so. In China an IPO wave rumbles on. Thanks to fashionable products and armies of users, these firms have a total valuation in the hundreds of billions of dollars. But there is a snag. The unicorns lack the economies of scale and barriers to entry their promoters proclaim. Tighter regulation will constrain their freedom to move fast and break things. Tech entrepreneurs need to rethink an unsustainable approach to building firms and commercialising ideas.  
 
  Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief  
     
 
  Editor’s picks  
 
  Must-reads from the current edition  
 
 
 
Notre Dame
The human spark

It is not wrong to care more about a building than about people
Leaders
 
 
 
Goldman Sachs
Tarnished

A new era at Goldman Sachs starts in the shadow of a scandal
Finance and economics
 
 
 
Lexington
Mayor Pete for freedom

Pete Buttigieg’s canny fusing of liberalism and tradition is a natural extension of his marriage
United States
 
 
 
Defending Japan
A new front

Japan’s Self-Defence Forces are beginning to focus on China
Asia
 
 
 
Graphic detail
Gaining face

China is using Facebook to build a huge news audience in the developing world
Graphic detail
 
 
 
Climate change and crop disease
Blocking the road to rusty death

Understanding how crop pathogens and climate change interact is vital. But the link remains obscure
Science and technology
 
 
 
Asian houbaras
The talons of a dilemma

Pakistan may be exterminating a bird that lays golden eggs
Asia
 
 
  The world this week
  
     
  The Finns Party, an anti-immigrant outfit, won 17% of the vote in Finland’s election. Other parties do not want to work with it. The winning Social Democrats will try to form a government without it.
  
     
  More from politics this week  
     
  Chevron agreed to take over Anadarko in a $49bn deal. The acquisition expands Chevron’s shale-oil assets in America’s Permian basin, where Anadarko is a leading independent operator. It also gains a huge liquefied-natural-gas project in Mozambique. Big oil companies have been increasing their shale production targets, adding to the pressure on smaller, independent outfits to consolidate.
  
     
  More from business this week  
     
See full edition
 
  From Economist Radio  
 
 
 
Podcast
A big week for American banks

America’s largest banks reported earnings this week. Bank of America’s chief executive, Brian Moynihan, explains why he is bullish about the American economy and justifies his pay package.
 
 
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