“THE BUSINESSPERSON OF THE DECADE? CANDIDATES FROM THE US TENDED TO SHINE THROUGH”

A decade ago, the Western world had started its recovery from the greatest economic slump and banking crisis since the Great Depression in 1929. The recovery of stock markets coincided with the introduction of quantitative easing on the 9^th March 2009. By the end of the year most global indices had rallied by between 25-55%. As I write the FTSE 100 has increased in value from 5437 to 7644 from 31/12/2009 to 27/12/19 – up 40% excluding dividends and currency vagaries. This relatively poor performance is down to the dispiriting performance of banks, mining, telecoms and some energy stocks. Conversely the Dow Jones Industrial Average has bounced like a grilse from 10428 to 28621 in the same time period and conditions - +174%. The NASDAQ COMPOSITE has performed with even more aplomb – up from 2269 to 9022 – up an astonishing 297%! Some Far Eastern indices did not suffer quite as acutely during the credit crisis – so the performance of the Hang Seng in the same period was not quite so spectacular – up 31%. However, NIKKEI 225 blazed the trail – up from 8836 to 23837 - +170%! It would not be unfair to deduce that during the past decade that the rich became richer and those with little have ended up with even less.

As can be seen from the tables set out below, of the companies and their innovators selected by nature of their achievements and popularity as personalities of the decade, there is a significant US flavour. With greater knowledge of the Japanese, Korean and Chinese economies I suspect great cases for the inclusion of their companies and their pioneers could and should be made. Ma Huateng, a Chinese businessman worth $42 billion and responsible for the development of Tencent Holdings, comes into that category, as does Wang Jian founder of Hainan Airlines and HNA Group and conservatively worth $20 billion, has also left a major business footprint. From Russia come Alisher Usmanov (Metalloinvest), Roman Abramovich (Evraz & other interests), both are enormously rich, as is Vladimir Lisin, estimated value of $20 billion made from Novolipetsk Steel. Alexei Mordashov has accumulated wealth in excess of $20 billion from his investment in Tui Travel and Severstal. As for the supposed richest man in the world – Carlos Slim; he derived his $63 billion fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through Grupo Carso – a conglomerate of investments mainly made in Mexico. Insufficient is known about his achievements on the global stage to assess his contribution to be considered for any special accolade.

*Since publicly quoted

These percentages do not include buybacks, rights issue or stock splits.

Some of the companies I have brought to your attention have been less successful in terms of an increase in share value than others. Walmart comes into that category. However, over 10 years it has remained all but unchallenged as the most significant retailer – a phenomenon. Jack Ma’s success with Alibaba, China’s answer to Amazon, had its IPO in 2014 and has been a huge success. Toyota is the 2^nd largest car manufacturer in the world. I mention it in dispatch rather than VW, because the latter has had a longer history. Softbank, the Japanese Conglomerate with an array of investments mainly in the field of technology, has been hugely influential.

I certainly ‘doff my titfer’ in the direction of Bernard Arnault, whose contribution to LVMH, which includes Lois Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi and Moet & Chandon in its portfolio has built up the most incredible luxury goods empire – shares are up 432% in the past decade. INEOS’s Jim Ratcliffe has accumulated wealth of £21 billion building up his chemical operation, providing work for 19,000 world-wide. INEOS remains privately quoted. Though News Corp is not mentioned in this missive, let’s pay a tribute to Rupert Murdoch, whose news empire and Sky TV operation recently sold to Comcast and other 21^st Century assets to Disney for over $70 billion, has been a colossus in media, even though the NoW hacking was regrettable. I certainly salute him. Without his commitment I fear there would be less newspapers and journalists. In my humble opinion, our hacks are the best in the world. As an investor surely Warren Buffett has no peer in the realm. His success over the last decade speaks for itself.

Alphabet (Google Sergei Brin and Larry Page), Amazon (Jeff Bezos) and Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg) have made huge contributions to society in terms of research, retail and social media respectively. However, social media is becoming more controversial as the days roll by. It is hard to believe that some legislation to control abuse will not be introduced.

As to who was the businessman/woman of the decade, I think we need look no further than Microsoft’s Bill Gates or the late Steve Jobs of Apple fame, whose dynasty Tim Cook has followed assiduously! Without Gates’s innovation, little of the technology we know today would ever have evolved. This computer software titan has been at the heart of technological development since 1975. What a man Bill Gates is! Also, together with his wife Melinda, their philanthropic generosity knows no bounds. So, for me Bill Gates deserves the accolade as the man of the decade ‘on the nod’ from Steve Jobs. Apple is more visual in its achievement than Microsoft. This smartphone wizard dominates millions of peoples’ life in so many ways, especially bringing the media to all of us at minimal cost. However, for me……

BUSINESS-PERSON OF THE DECADE – BILL GATES

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

David Buik