Adani corporate empire sheds $20bn after US bribery charges

In today’s newsletter:

• Adani’s corporate empire sheds $20bn

• The Chinese satellite group challenging Musk’s Starlink in Brazil

• The banana that sold for $6mn

Good morning. We start with the fallout from Gautam Adani’s US indictment, as more than $20bn in market value has been wiped off the Indian tycoon’s corporate empire after he was hit with corruption charges.

Adani Enterprises, the flagship of a sprawling group controlled by the businessman, closed down by more than a fifth yesterday, shedding nearly $9bn a day after US prosecutors alleged that he hid a $265mn bribery scheme from investors and banks.

Other entities in the conglomerate shed more than $11bn in market capitalisation.

The group was plunged further into crisis when Kenya tore up $2.6bn in deals because of the US indictment — including a proposed $1.85bn deal for the Adani group to expand Nairobi’s international airport, and a $736mn investment in power lines.

The share price plunge and sharp falls in Adani company bonds yesterday threaten to wreck the group’s planned relaunch in international markets after it appeared to overcome separate fraud allegations by Hindenburg Research, the short seller, last year.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• Economic data: Japan and Malaysia report October inflation data. Singapore publishes third-quarter GDP.

• COP29: The UN climate change conference wraps up in Azerbaijan. 

• Japan: Labor Thanksgiving Day is on Saturday.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

Five more top stories

1. A Chinese state-backed company announced plans to launch a satellite internet service to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink in Brazil, as President Xi Jinping made a state visit to the South American country this week. The announcement from China’s SpaceSail follows a bitter dispute between Musk and Brazilian authorities over alleged misinformation on X.

2. Three Bank of America dealmakers in India have left amid an ongoing investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in the US financial group’s Asian unit, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The internal investigation is probing whether bankers in its Asian operation tipped off certain investors of upcoming secondary offerings.

3. Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration for US attorney-general, in a setback for Donald Trump’s presidential transition. Gaetz said the controversy around his nomination had become a “distraction”. The 42-year-old lawmaker, who has limited legal experience, has been the subject of a congressional investigation into alleged sexual misconduct and drug use.

4. Vladimir Putin said Moscow fired an experimental hypersonic missile at Ukraine yesterday in response to the US and UK allowing Kyiv to use advanced western weaponry at targets inside Russia. While Ukraine described it as an intercontinental missile, both the Russian president and a US official classified it as a mid-range ballistic missile. Here’s what we know about the “Oreshnik” missile fired by Moscow.

5. Apple has proposed spending $100mn on a factory in Indonesia, after Jakarta banned the sale of its latest iPhone over the level of its local investment. Indonesia’ industry ministry said it “welcomed Apple’s investment commitment” and would discuss the proposal further.

The Big Read

By concentrating big bets in a small number of companies, Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital inverts the traditional venture model: firms typically write dozens of small cheques in young start-ups; most fail, but the flops are more than offset by a few spectacular successes. Will Thrive’s “all in or all out” approach pay off?

We’re also reading . . . 

• Social media ban: Australia has introduced a bill to ban access to social media for under-16s and threatened penalties of up to A$50mn ($32.5mn) for “systemic” breaches by platforms.

• Green energy: Trump loves fossil fuels but his sidekick Musk wants a piece of the action, writes Simon Kuper. What could this mean for China’s dominance of clean-energy technologies?

• Japan’s CFO deficit: Investors expect to deal with people fluent in shareholder-focused language, writes Leo Lewis. The problem is Japanese companies have few people qualified for the role.

Chart of the day

A mass “X-odus” saw 60,000 people deactivate their accounts on average each day last week amid complaints about a rightward lurch and toxic atmosphere on Elon Musk’s platform. Bluesky, a newer platform, has benefited from a surge in use as people have exited X.

Take a break from the news

. . . or take a break from the hard news because I promise this is a lighter read: a cryptocurrency entrepreneur has paid $6.24mn for a banana taped to a wall at an art auction.