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Jun. 10, 2021 10:43PM EST
What to expect from Biden's trip to Europe
President Biden arrived in Europefor his first foreign trip bearing what could be a game-changing pledge: 500 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to be shared with low- and middle-income countries over the next year.
The state of play: The remaining G7 members — Canada, the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and this year’s hosts, the U.K. — are set to pledge at least another 500 million to bring the total to 1 billion by mid-2021, per a draft communique seen by Bloomberg.
- After months of vaccine hoarding by the world’s wealthiest countries, that's a whiplash-inducing shift — particularly from the U.S., which wasn’t even allowing vaccine exports until recently.
- But a year is a long time in the life of the pandemic, so urgency is a key element here.
- The U.S. already has sufficient supply to cover all domestic demand, while the other G7 countries will reach that point by June (Canada), July (France, Italy, Germany, U.K.) or August (Japan), per an analysis from the One Campaign.
What to watch: The G7 is also set to call for a new investigation into the origin of the pandemic, per the draft communique.
- The key unresolved question is what the countries will announce on climate change — in particular how much money they'll make available to help poorer countries decarbonize their economies.
- The summit's host, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is reportedly pushing for a climate “Marshall Plan.”
Biden’s next stop will be Brussels for his first NATO summit (June 14–15).
- The alliance went through something of an identity crisis over the last four years, with Donald Trump calling it obsolete and French President Emmanuel Macron declaring it brain dead.
- Biden will have to reassure allies that America is indeed back while also encouraging them to invest in their own defense, says Stacie Pettyjohn of the Center for a New American Security.
- Questions will remain about whether America is back to stay, she adds: “There’s a fear that President Trump could return, or that another nationalist leader could be elected.”
- It’s also not clear to what extent Biden’s top geopolitical priority —countering China — will be on the agenda.
What to watch: Biden will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan while in Brussels.
- The two have some uncomfortable history, and the June 14 meeting comes with deep wounds in the relationship over Russia, Syria and Erdoğan's autocratic tilt.
- The meeting is so politically sensitive in Turkey that senior officials are skipping public events so as to avoid questions about it, Menekse Tokyay reports for Axios from Ankara.
Biden’s last stop is Geneva for his much-anticipated summit with Vladimir Putin.
- Biden says his goal is to lay the groundwork for a "stable and predictable" relationship with Russia.
- On the Russian side, there's a split between the Foreign Ministry and the security establishment, says Tatiana Stanovaya of Carnegie Moscow.
- The former sees the summit as a “last chance” to put long-standing strategic issues on the table, while the latter wants a more “pragmatic and realistic agenda” that concludes with channels of communication in place to handle day-to-day challenges going forward.
Flashback: Putin arrived at his 2018 summit with Trump in Helsinki with high hopes and a series of proposals for the future of the relationship, Stanovaya says.
- Now, "there are fears [in Moscow] that the U.S. side will use this summit to make a point, and after this, the dialogue will fizzle out."
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Jun. 10, 2021 09:20AM EST
The war for attention: How to be a skillful communicator
Never have humans talked, tweeted or texted more words — and found it more difficult to be heard.
Why it matters: In this era of nonstop noise, every person must be a skillful communicator. Yet most struggle at it.
- Customers and employees are demanding to know what companies stand for. Most executives have been lousy at providing an answer.
- Our remote and hybrid working world puts a premium on clarity and consistency of message. Most managers are unprepared.
- When communication fails, teams and ideas fail. 30% of all project failures are the direct result of poor communication, according to a Project Management Institute study.
Here are a few tips we have learned running a media company that you can use to bust through the noise:
- Write like you speak. Jargon, throat-clearing and well-known background weigh your message down. Conversational language is captivating.
- Ruthlessly prioritize. Attention spans are short and shrinking. Accept it. Get to the point quickly so readers can move on. 60% to 80% of people will scan, not read, what you write, University of Maryland research found.
- Repetition matters. If you want someone to remember something, communicate crisply — and repeatedly. By the time you have annoyed yourself, others are probably starting to hear you.
- Diversify. Fast. Every person needs to be able to speak authoritatively — or listen authentically — about diversity, equity and inclusion. If you rolled your eyes at this one, get help, quick.
The big picture: The communications crisis isn’t confined to business or top leaders. The more noise and distraction, the more precision and efficiency matter in being heard — and remembered.
- Just look at politics: Power no longer flows from position, seniority or money. It flows to those who master — or game — modern, short-burst communications on cable or Twitter.
- Teachers, preachers, small-group leaders — everyone who communicates one-to-many — faces similar challenges in penetrating brains rewired by quick-twitch technology.
📱 You're invited: Join Jim VandeHei and other Axios colleagues Friday at 12:30 p.m. ET for a half-hour virtual event, "The War for Attention: Communication Rules for a Hybrid Workforce." Sign up here.
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Mar. 04, 2021 06:21PM EST
Why fears of a SPAC bubble may be overblown
The SPAC surge continues unabated, with 10 new ones formed since Wednesday morning. And that's OK.
Between the lines: There are growing concerns that retail investors are about to get rolled, with smart sponsors taking advantage of dumb money.
- To be sure, many of these deals will fail. SPACs are pulling venture capital forward, and venture capital is inherently speculative.
- And regulators should watch closely for conflicts of interest, including if SPAC sponsors are having pre-IPO conversations with potential targets (which is not allowed).
Reasons for (relative) calm: Unlike traditional venture capital or equities investing, though, SPACs have numerous guardrails.
- Some of them are structural. Redemption rights, IPO proceeds held in escrow via T-bills and the ability for unit-holders to rebuff a merger.
- There also is pricing pressure from the small number of institutional investors that have come to dominate the PIPE market. For example, it's not uncommon for a SPAC to win a bake-off by offering the highest price, only to renegotiate down after the letter of intent is signed. Not because the SPAC sponsor thinks it over-bid, but because the big PIPE players do.
- "Target companies hate when this happens, but they're in an exclusivity period once they've signed the LOI, so their only option is to negotiate or wait a while and start the whole thing over," a SPAC banker explains.
Normal market forces are also at work. For example, the SPAC buying Dyal Capital is now just trading at 4 cents above the offering price, reflecting concerns about if the deal can get done amidst the litigation. And, of course, there are short-sellers trumpeting their skepticism, like Muddy Waters yesterday unloading on SPAC'd XL Fleet.
The bottom line: It does feel like there's a SPAC bubble. But, as investing bubbles go, SPACs may be among the most benign.
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Dec. 10, 2024 10:12AM EST

