The new collapse of the Dotcomes, the weapons business of the sponsor Maria Butina and the best of the "Russian norms"

Facebook and Twitter lost 20% of capitalization in two days. Is this the end of the growth of the technological market?

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The main thing in a week

The collapse of Facebook and Twitter, a record in the history of the American stock market, raised the question this week: is it not the beginning of the end of the rapid growth of the technological market, which bankers, economists and traders have been warning about for many months in a row.

• The capitalization of Twitter, after the publication of the company's reporting for the second quarter, has made the path along the same trajectory today as yesterday - Facebook . The company's quotes have collapsed by 19% - this is the largest intraday fall since October 2016.
• The main reason is to reduce the average monthly Twitter audience by 1 million people, to 335 million. Compared to last year, this indicator increased by almost 3%, and the company explained to the first quarter, the company explained by reinforced measures to “clean” the platform from unwanted users and the tightening of European legislation to protect personal data.
• Like Facebook, Twitter declares that the priority is now - restoring order on the social network: weekly, using the Twitter artificial intelligence algorithms, finds more than 9 million potentially harmful accounts. This strategy in the long run will give steady growth, the company believes, but investors seem to be not going to wait.
• They sent the same signal yesterday Facebook, when the company lost $ 120 billion costs in a few hours (today the social network continued the fall).
• The main pain of investors is the fear that technological companies have exhausted the opportunities for growth. Twitter does not even save Donald Trump, the most enthusiastic user of the service: “We simply do not see that grocery innovations affect the ability of Twitter to attract new users,” Benjamin Skakter quoted Bloomberg quoted Bloomberg.
• The entire sector today supported the strong reporting of Amazon, but the S&P 500 index is still reduced by the second day in a row, and in the lead leaders- Inte L (-8.3%) and Microsoft (-1.8%).
• So nervously traders say goodbye to the explosive growth of IT giants. But when you see the second collapse in a row, the future involuntarily ceases to see such beautiful as yesterday, the chief investment director of Commonwealth Financial Network Brad Makmillan admitted to the agency.

It is too early to draw analogies with the collapse of the Dotcomes of 2000 (although FT, for example, is not shy to do this). But you need to prepare for all scenarios, and at the same time remember that for many investors the collapse of the Internet bubbles of the early 2000s was the moment for the most profitable investments in startups. Here you can read about how the chief technological investor of the late 90s got out of the collapse of the dotcomes, and now the largest shareholder of Alibaba and Uber Masaesi Son, Yuri Milner is divided by the same experience, and here are stories about how the startups then successfully survived the startups then.

"What am I to me?"

News of the week important for your wallet

• The Central Bank for the third time in a row did not reduce the key rate, leaving it at the level of 7.25%, and until the end of the year it is unlikely to change. The main reason is the inevitable increase in inflation (up to 3.5-4% of the end) due to the upcoming VAT increase. The decision and forecast from the Central Bank means that you should not wait for serious changes in bank rates - in the second half of July, the average maximum rate of ruble deposits in the 10 largest banks in terms of population funds dropped to 6.33%.
• The State Duma finally approved the creation of its offshores in Russia - on Russian islands in Primorye and Oktyabrsky in the Kaliningrad region. Companies in these special zones will not have to pay taxes from the sale of assets and from dividends received, and only 5%from the dividends paid. But business will not be able to re -register in offshore - the option will be available only for foreign companies that existed until 2018 and are ready to invest at least 50 million rubles in these regions.
• The CEC predictably rejected the Communist Party of the Communist Party of the Communist Party to hold a referendum on raising the retirement age, but another thing is more important: this week it turned out that the Ministry of Labor wants to introduce criminal liability for employers for the dismissal of people of pre -retirement age. The business is preparing to resist and ask the states of incentives to preserve jobs for age employees.

The man of the week

Konstantin Nikolaev. Not the most famous Russian billionaire, co-owner of the N-Trans group Konstantin Nikolaev became the hero of the week in the United States-all thanks to Maria Butina, who was arrested in the United States, whose work, as it turned out , he sponsored. We found out how a businessman who earned a condition on the railway could be connected with an arms activist - the explanation turned out to be interesting, but this whole story is not like an international political project supported in the Kremlin.

• In Russia, Nikolaev is known as the owner of the railway and port companies, but he also has the weapons business: in the early 2010s, Nikolaev invested in the company Promtekhnology, which produced sniper rifles under the Orsis brand, and then became a co-owner of the Tula and Ulyanovsk cartridge plants (a representative of Nikolaev claims that the businessman now is not related "Promtechnologies"). In both projects, he had solid partners. The co-owner of Orsis was the future minister without a portfolio Mikhail Abyzov, and Dmitry Rogozin’snephew was one of the top managers. In 2017, Igor Rotenberg became the shareholder of cartridge plants . Nikolaev had the third weapons business, where, according to Novaya Gazeta, partners were relatives of senior FSB officers.
• As the Bell told The Bell, close to the Ministry of Defense, and the acquaintance of Nikolaev, his weapons business from his wife began. Svetlana Nikolaeva about 10 years ago she began to engage in practical shooting , carried away with this occupation of her husband, and then invited him to invest in the creation of a Russian rifle - this is how the Orsis arose in 2010. Around the same time, the Russian Ministry of Defense was concerned about the creation of a pool of private weapons companies in the country. For this, a special council was formed under the government. He was headed by Abyzov, and Promtechnologies became one of the applicants for the arms order.
• As a result, Nikolaev became one of the lobbyists of the liberalization of wearing firearms in Russia and began to support the organization “Right to Weapons”. One Bell calls her Butina, who headed her butt, a “rather random” person. The senator was then seen much more in lobbying the interests of the arms industry, and now the deputy chairman of the Central Bank Alexander Torshin, whose Butina worked. He wrote to the head of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko with a proposal to allow the wearing of short -barreled weapons. But sharply against this idea was the billionaire and head of the Russian Rifle Union Vladimir Lisin, two interlocutors of The Bell say. Torshin’s resources were clearly not enough, and after 2011 they forgot about this topic.
• At the same time, the funding of the army and the general influence of the military increased - and the idea with private suppliers of the Ministry of Defense has lost its relevance. Judging by the database of public procurement, Promtechnologies did not receive large contracts of the Ministry of Defense. Another acquaintance of Nikolaev adds that in the “right to weapon” the businessman was quickly disappointed. The representative of Nikolaev said that he ceased to sponsor the organization of Maria Butina in 2014.

Why is it important

The American media and congressmen, which already write bills on new sanctions, describe the case of Maria Butina as a new evidence of Moscow’s intervention in the American elections. In fact, this story is the least similar to a foreign -political operation approved at a high level. The participation in it of the billionaire Nikolaev, traditionally building a business with the help of influential partners, but not at all close to the Kremlin, only confirms this feeling.

"Russian norms!"

The best and unpublished. More than six months, the founder of the project "Russian norms!" Lisa Ossetian told you about successful Russian entrepreneurs and starters who launch steep products, create global companies and managed to succeed abroad. For a short time, until September, we will take a break. But before going on vacation, we will show the best and unpublished moments from past interviews. "Russian norms!" They will return to you in the fall, with new business stories. Stay with us!

Irina Malkova, Peter Mironenko