As Facebook prepares to file its IPO documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — as soon as Wednesday, according to recent reports — the company is trying to make the argument that it adds more to the economy than a convenient way to waste time at work. By touting the economic activity it has generated and the jobs it’s created, Facebook is also trying to pre-empt criticism that the primary winners from the IPO are insiders who stand to reap billions from the offering.
As my train pulled into the station at a snow-covered Davos a few days ago, I was prepared to be cynical. I’d had dinner the night before with an old friend, a former chairman of a major American company, who was usually a regular at Davos. But this year he stayed away, even though he [...]
Unfair trade practices and poor working conditions in the developing world, issues that dominated the WEF agenda a decade ago, haven’t been raised at all. Instead, the conversation is acutely focused on the plight of the Western worker.
The topics and tropes fall faster than snowflakes here in Davos, where several thousand of the world’s leading business people, politicians and policy makers gather once a year for an annual think-fest. And with literally hundreds of panels, debates, interviews, workshops and symposia taking place, it would be impossible to capture all of the ideas competing for attendees’ attention.
Here in snowy Davos, the topic of job creation has been about as popular as the passed canapés and free champagne. Not surprisingly, President Obama’s latest jobs proposals — a combination of taxing outsourcing corporations and reviving U.S. manufacturing — haven’t been as popular. It’s not hard to see why.
Last night at a cocktail party I attended in Davos, the queen of new media – Arianna Huffington – did a surprising thing. She asked people to unplug from their Blackberries and—gasp—slow down.
In a world economy gripped by fear and smothered in uncertainty, I managed to meet someone here able to shine a bright light through the gloom – Steve Ellis, worldwide managing director of consulting firm Bain & Co. Sure, we might be facing the possibility of a collapse of the euro, an emerging markets slowdown, [...]
During this year’s TIME at Davos debate, our international editor Jim Frederick posed some colossal questions: Is 20th century capitalism failing 21st century society? And if so, who’s responsible and what should we do to fix it? I’d love to say the panelists squared away all the answers with a succinct five-point plan. But neither they [...]
Rana Foroohar, Assistant Managing Editor, talks about her interview with Professor Muhammad Yunus, the father of microfinance. More from Davos, here.
Despite its rugged alpine beauty, there are few places where the world seems more flat than Davos, Switzerland. The World Economic Forum’s grand annual conclave, set to kick off this Wednesday, draws myriad heads of state, global power brokers and cognoscenti for a rarefied meeting of the minds amid canapes and caviar. For years, the [...]
