HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) – As the world faced up to its annus horribilis, Breakingviews readers showed a voracious and varied appetite for agenda-setting financial insight. Sure, the Covid-19 virus was on everyones mind, but an analysis of the most-read stories of the year proved our readers are rarely myopic.
A man wearing a protective face mask and gloves uses his smartphone in a park, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Kiev, Ukraine April 30, 2020.
Breakingviews distribution platforms serve different audiences: the Refinitiv Eikon terminal and our own branded website cater to financial professionals, while a subset of our content available on Reuters.com reaches a mass audience. For all three, this years most-read lists lead with pandemic pieces. They tackled big questions like what the pandemic might portend for dealmakers, as well as provocative ideas such as the possibility the United States would punish China by reneging on some of its debts.
Beyond the top line, things looked rather different. On the Reuters website, stories went viral in more ways than one, with readers craving virus-related coverage. Corona Capital, a daily collection of short, sharp takes on the pandemics impact introduced at the start of the crisis, proved popular, accounting for a third of our most-read stories on Reuters.com. That outlets top 10 also included a prescient piece from February, headlined Coronavirus goes global. The bleak breakdown came before the World Health Organization labelled the novel coronavirus a pandemic.
On the other hand, Breakingviews.com and terminal readers were ready to move onwards. True, Covid-19 inspired the first item on both of their most-read lists. On the terminal, the favourite piece predicted that the health crisis would herald mega mergers, much like the 2008 global financial crisis. On our website, a story about the rise of virus vices including booze, chocolate and weed consumption struck a chord.
However, the rest were quite literally a different story. Many of the most popular pieces were about people, ranging from Richard Branson to the late Sultan of Oman, Indias richest man Mukesh Ambani to Warren Buffett. Daring dealmaking is a perennial obsession: Snowflakes $2.7 billion initial public offering and the sale of the Ironman triathlon franchise featured. Readers also sought out smart analysis of emerging trends, like the rage for hydrogen investing and Chinas backlash against big technology.
For Breakingviews columnists, its a salient reminder that there is never just one story. Whatever lies ahead in 2021, that will be a key lesson of 2020.
REUTERS.COM
America could actually shirk its debts to China here
Protests may be last straw for U.S. global stature here
GE bosss options are to shine or shrivel here
China’s Huawei holds a 5G trump card here
Greta Thunberg will clog EU budget-airline engines here
Breakdown: Coronavirus goes global here
Corona Capital: GE cash burn, Macys lifeline here
Corona Capital: Oil cheerleading, Mortgaging Ford here
Corona Capital: Pools, Dell here
Donald Trump is rising risk factor in virus battle here
REFINITIV TERMINAL
Cox: Brace for Americas version of Saudi Aramco here
China hangs its sharpest sword over online giants here
Occidental divi cut puts Buffett in drivers seat here
Morgan Stanley CEO gets smart and lucky on E*Trade here
Buffett’s main asset isn’t money but patience here
Saudis Warren Buffett impression looks skin-deep here
Predictions: The heats rising everywhere in 2020 here
Hydrogen investing is a lottery worth playing here
Snowflakes $2.7 bln IPO is so hot it could melt here
Alibaba may be China’s secret stimulus weapon here
BREAKINGVIEWS.COM
Today’s virus vices store up tomorrow’s problems here
Ominous iron ore seam opens in Aussie trade row here
Gulfs long-serving ruler is ailing at a bad time here
Virgin has bailout headwinds besides Branson here
Ironman sale threatens Chinese owners endurance here
Mukesh Ambanis retail M&A would wipe competition here
Santander CEO fiasco exposes bankings fault line here
Palantir investor day is direct-listing bonus here
India Insight: Ambani, a maverick Rockefeller here
Swedens $2 bln oat milk startup has watery moat here
Breakingviews
Reuters Breakingviews is the world’s leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect the big business and economic stories as they break around the world every day. A global team of about 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provides expert analysis in real time.
Sign up for a free trial of our full service at https://www.breakingviews.com/trial and follow us on Twitter @Breakingviews and at www.breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.read more
Breakingviews – 2020 hindsight: Our best-read stories of the year – Reuters
