FTX’s latest bankruptcy filing is a miserable read for customers. The new chief executive of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange, insolvency veteran John Ray, uncovered giant financial gaps and signs of looting. Formidable backers such as Temasek and Sequoia could have stopped it with some basic oversight, but at least they now have a chance to never make the same sloppy mistakes again. Ray’s first in-depth account, submitted to the court on Thursday, reveals a brazen lack of controls and governance. Financial statements dated to Sept. 30, when founder Sam Bankman-Fried was in charge, contain no record of customer liabilities at either the

Intel may not realize it yet, but it has taken one hand off the Mobileye wheel. The $220 billion chipmaker said on Monday that it will list a minority stake in its autonomous-driving unit next year. Initially, the decision is for Wall Street’s benefit, as Mobileye might be worth $50 billion. But history suggests it could also be the start of the unit’s return to independence. Intel boss Pat Gelsinger stressed in a call how the move brings “visibility” to Mobileye. He said Intel’s purchase of the company for $15.3 billion in 2007 was its most successful acquisition to date. That’s a tad premature.

Prada is en route to join the A-listers on the other side of the luxury sector’s velvet rope. After years of drift, the $18 billion Italian brand has got a grip on its retail network, clamped down on discounting and spruced up its image. That lays the foundations for a jump in sales and profitability. For investors, promotion to the fashion’s premier league is well worth having. Thursday’s shareholder day was only the second such event since the group, controlled by designer Miuccia Prada and her husband Patrizio Bertelli, listed in Hong Kong a decade ago. To mark the occasion, the maker

Pinduoduo is in need of a C-suite upgrade. China’s e-commerce darling on Wednesday replaced co-founder Colin Huang as chief executive with his fellow founder Lei Chen. The pair wields supervoting stock and controls the board, but their $102 billion company still lacks a chief financial officer or other top executives. It has a long way to go for better governance. It’s an odd time for Huang to step back. The New York-listed company only went public in 2018 and has since seen its valuation more than triple. In a letter to staff, Huang, who remains chairman, says he will now

Sometimes it’s hard to tell which Masayoshi Son loves more: new technology or creative finance. The mercurial SoftBank boss uses an abundance of the latter to fund excesses in the former. Even chastened, he is dipping into his deep well of engineering. Son conceded last month that he was “foolish” to aggressively back the now-reeling shared-office outfit WeWork. The pandemic also pushed SoftBank into a $9 billion net loss for its fiscal year ending in March and hurt its hulking Vision Fund. With some prodding from pushy hedge fund Elliott Management, the Japanese tech and telecom company is working on

Pilots have a crisp and clear process for handing over control of their aircraft, ensuring there’s no doubt as to who is in charge. United Airlines’ chief executive transition fails this test. Current boss Oscar Munoz will be bumped up to executive chairman for at least one year, the company unveiled on Thursday, while President Scott Kirby will take hold of the control stick. The $22 billion airline has had more than its share of drama since Munoz took control in 2015. A viral 2017 video of a passenger being forcibly dragged off an overbooked plane led to several botched

The destructive force of hurricanes is measured on a scale from one to five. If the corporate world had an equivalent, WeWork would be approaching category six. The troubled office-sharing firm is now pulling a $26 billion U.S. telecom deal into its vortex. SoftBank Group, which last month put up nearly $10 billion to rescue WeWork parent The We Company after its failed initial public offering, booted co-founder Adam Neumann out the door of the corner office. T-Mobile US Chief Executive John Legere is one of the candidates to replace him, according to the Wall Street Journal. The trouble is,

Clarity has value. Xerox’s exit from a tortuous relationship with Japan’s Fujifilm brings just that. The roughly $8 billion U.S. copier firm is selling its stake in two Asian joint ventures to its partner for $2.3 billion. That’s far better than the convoluted, activist-opposed merger the two had agreed to last year. The company’s spiffed up governance and simpler structure may even tempt a buyer. Xerox has spent two years embroiled in a situation messier than a broken toner cartridge. Former Chief Executive Jeff Jacobson agreed to merge into a joint venture run with Fujifilm, and pay a $2.5 billion

Studying the board members of Europe’s major banks is a chastening education in the continent’s incestuous financial elite. Shareholders and regulators largely tolerate the criss-crossing careers and responsibilities of directors because it’s hard to find experienced candidates untainted by theoretical conflicts of interest. Still, Deutsche Bank’s latest appointee is in a category of his own. The 13 billion euro lender in August nominated Juerg Zeltner to join its supervisory board. The 52-year-old has lots of relevant experience. He worked at UBS for 30 years, most recently leading its giant wealth management division. In May he was named chief executive of

Supervoting shares don’t create great corporate leaders – and they don’t save weak ones. Consider Adam Neumann’s rapidly eroding grip over The We Company, the office-sharing group he co-founded. When a company is in need of cash, it’s providers of capital that call the shots. The 40-year-old Neumann’s main financial backer, SoftBank, is exploring ways to oust him as chief executive, Reuters reported on Sunday. The Japanese technology investor and its affiliates including the Vision Fund have poured almost $11 billion into the office sublessor – most recently at a $47 billion valuation. Those investments are underwater, with even a

Elliott Management’s activist assault on AT&T is notable mostly for what it doesn’t say. Paul Singer’s fund has taken a $3.2 billion position in the U.S. telco asking for more efficiency, fewer deals and less debt. Missing, but worthy of a discussion, is the idea of dethroning boss Randall Stephenson. A decade of questionable decisions has left the $270 billion AT&T worth around 40% less than it should be, Elliott contends. Only the most stubborn shareholder would disagree. First, there was an ill-fated grab at T-Mobile US. That ended with AT&T paying a fee and some spectrum to the target,

Private beats public, according to many entrepreneurs. Abundant money from sovereign wealth funds, venture capitalists, private equity firms and even traditional equity investors has allowed startups to grow rapidly without the strings that come with stock-market listings. It has also enabled poor governance and unrealistic valuations. The hapless WeWork shows the gap is wide. The shared-office space company led by Adam Neumann may go public at a valuation as low as $20 billion, less than half the $47 billion implied by its last private fundraising just eight months ago. The market hasn’t seen a so-called down round on that scale