Ruction
A disturbance or quarrel.
The Ruction is a weekly rundown of the top ten emerging issues from the past seven days shaping commerce + culture.
The Ruction is for communication strategists and global business executives.
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The Ruction | Edition 12 | March 5, 2021
1. In Hong Kong, 47 activists were charged with violating the territory's national-security law. The activists' alleged crimes relate to an informal primary ballot held last year by pro-democracy politicians to produce strong candidates for the Legislative Council.
China's soft power is cratering.
According to a new Pew Research Center survey, roughly nine-in-ten US adults (89%) consider China a competitor or enemy rather than a partner.
2. China now has 1,058 billionaires, beating the US to become the first country in the world with over 1,000 US-dollar billionaire tycoons, according to the new Hurun Global Rich List 2021.
3. Joe Biden promised there would be enough COVID-19 vaccine for every adult in America by the end of May.
Wielding the Defense Production Act's powers, the Biden administration brokered a deal with Merck to produce the one-shot dose developed by Johnson & Johnson.
"Two of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world who are usually competitors are working together on the vaccine. This is the type of collaboration between companies we saw in World War II." -- President Joe Biden
#JabMe
4. Pent-up demand: Consumers in the world's largest economies amassed $2.9 trillion in extra savings during COVID-related lockdowns, a vast cash hoard that creates the potential for a robust recovery from the pandemic recession.
A return of the Roaring '20s?
5. 15% of American companies are zombies: A zombie company is an indebted business that, although generating cash and converting fixed costs, only have enough funds to service the interest on their loans, but not the debt itself. As such, they generally depend on banks and creative finance for their continued existence, effectively putting them on never-ending life support.
6. Netflix in India: The streaming giant is releasing 40 local productions in India in the coming year.
The 2021 schedule will be Netflix's largest-ever programming slate in India as it prepares to battle with competitors like Disney and Amazon.
7. Birkenstock was sold to a private-equity firm backed by LVMH in a deal worth $4.8bn.
Long associated with hippies in the '70s until they became uber fashionable for hipsters in the '90s, Birkenstock sandals trace their history back to Germany in 1774; the current design dates from the '60s.
8. Volvo announces an ambitious electrification strategy: The automaker said it would phase out all petrol-powered cars, including hybrids, by 2030 and sell only fully electric ones.
The company also plans to disrupt the conventional way of selling cars by ditching dealerships and making new vehicles available only online.
9. Maersk aims for the first carbon-neutral container ship in 2 years: The shipping line plans a green methanol vessel in an industry under pressure to cut emissions.
Container shipping is one of the most challenging industries to decarbonize because electric batteries available to other forms of transport do not work for vessels that must travel thousands of kilometers without stopping.
At the moment, the majority of container ships are powered by "bunker fuel," a thick, polluting product left at the end of the oil refining process.
10. A central Chinese bitcoin mining hub is shutting down its cryptocurrency operations: China's Inner Mongolia region plans to ban new cryptocurrency mining projects and shut down existing activity to cut down on the energy-consuming process.
Bitcoin mining consumes an estimated 128.84 terawatt-hour per year of energy, more than entire countries such as Ukraine and Argentina.
Inner Mongolia alone accounts for around 8% of all bitcoin mining globally, more than the United States, which accounts for 7.2%.
