Accessibility help Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer

Cookies on FT Sites

We use cookies for a number of reasons, such as keeping FT Sites reliable and secure, personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to analyse how our Sites are used.
Manage cookies
Accept & continue
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
Open drawer menu Open search bar
Financial Times
myFT
  • Home
  • World
    Sections
    • World Home
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • Americas
    • Middle East and North Africa
    Most Read
    • Brussels baffled by UK’s ‘complex’ proposals to fix Brexit deadlock
    • Kurds strike deal with Russia and Syria to stem Turkish assault
    • Vatican police investigate Holy See’s bet on Chelsea property project
    • How Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit would hit the UK economy
    • Queen announces Boris Johnson’s new legislative agenda
  • US
    Sections
    • US Home
    • US Economy
    • US Politics & Policy
    • US Companies
    Most Read
    • Kurds strike deal with Russia and Syria to stem Turkish assault
    • SoftBank in talks to take control of WeWork amid cash crunch
    • How hard has China been hit by the trade war?
    • Elizabeth Warren gains momentum to lead Democratic field
    • Goldman and Morgan Stanley expected to suffer IPO earnings hit
  • Companies
    Sections
    • Companies Home
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
    Most Read
    • SoftBank in talks to take control of WeWork amid cash crunch
    • Leonardo Del Vecchio, the Italian billionaire defying old age
    • PwC’s retired partners share £100m windfall
    • Goldman and Morgan Stanley expected to suffer IPO earnings hit
    • Hundreds of German companies call for EU help as Brexit fears bite
  • Tech
  • Markets
    Sections
    • Markets Home
    • fastFT
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
    • Moral Money
    Most Read
    • How hard has China been hit by the trade war?
    • State Street chief Cyrus Taraporevala: my 5 predictions for asset management in 2029
    • Only prudence can keep bank accounts honest
    • Amber accuses Lagardère of trying to ‘intimidate’ shareholders
    • Beware of paying too steep a price for high-quality assets
  • Graphics
  • Opinion
    Sections
    • Opinion Home
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Instant Insight
    • Lex
    • Alphaville
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
    Most Read
    • What I learnt from my hellish long-haul flight
    • Light at the end of the Brexit tunnel
    • California’s new model for fixing inequality
    • Spying scandal weighs on Tidjane Thiam’s tenure at Credit Suisse
    • Mario Draghi’s critics are misguided
  • Work & Careers
    Sections
    • Work & Careers Home
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
    Most Read
    • What I learnt from my hellish long-haul flight
    • Secrets of the successful dual-career couples
    • The nominees for a Nobel Prize for management
    • How to build a more responsible corporate capitalism
    • ‘I’ll have you know my hands have been all over these dishes’
  • Life & Arts
    Sections
    • Life & Arts Home
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Travel
    Most Read
    • How my iPhone landed me with a £476 fine and made me a criminal
    • From financial crisis to inequality — how economists got it wrong
    • Why middle-aged men hate Greta Thunberg 
    • How will we live in the 2020s?
    • Boarding soon: the five-star airship bound for the North Pole
  • How to Spend It
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
Menu Search
  • Home
  • World
  • US
  • Companies
  • Tech
  • Markets
  • Graphics
  • Opinion
  • Work & Careers
  • Life & Arts
  • How to Spend It
Financial Times
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe

Make sense of a disrupted world

Explore the new agenda

John Gapper

Chief Business Commentator

John Gapper is associate editor and chief business commentator of the Financial Times. He writes a weekly column, appearing on Thursdays on the Comment page, about business trends and strategy. He also contributes leaders and other articles.

He has worked for the FT since 1987, covering labour relations, banking and the media. In 1991-92, he was a Harkness fellow of the Commonwealth Fund of New York, and studied US education and training at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Email John Gapper @johngapper (link opens in a new browser window)
Email John Gapper @johngapper (link opens in a new browser window)

Add to myFT Digest

Add this topic to your myFT Digest for news straight to your inbox

  • Wednesday, 9 October, 2019
    Oil & Gas industry
    Big Oil should rebel against its customers

    Energy companies facing climate protests need to limit the wasteful use of their products

  • Wednesday, 2 October, 2019
    Tobacco
    Juul and the damage done to e-cigarettes

    The US is in danger of lurching from lax oversight of vaping to banning it unwisely

  • Wednesday, 25 September, 2019
    Wealth management
    Chasing wealth managers is a risky business

    Private banks are fighting to advise billionaires who want a lot for their money

  • Wednesday, 18 September, 2019
    We Company
    WeWork’s prophet has lost his charisma

    Adam Neumann transformed shared offices but failed to charm stock market investors

  • Wednesday, 11 September, 2019
    Jeffrey Epstein
    Jeffrey Epstein found the weakness of universities

    The need to raise donations led MIT’s Media Lab to a terrible misjudgment

  • Friday, 6 September, 2019
    ReviewHistory books
    The Anarchy — East India Company in the dock

    This riveting account of how a piratical corporation subjugated India resonates with today’s global capitalism

  • Wednesday, 4 September, 2019
    Tetra Pak International SA
    Invent a greener milk carton for the world

    Tetra Pak’s innovation overtook the glass bottle but it needs to be improved

  • Wednesday, 21 August, 2019
    Hong Kong politics
    Business in Hong Kong needs to stay strong

    Beijing wants to make companies impose obedience to China on protesting employees

  • Wednesday, 14 August, 2019
    Mobile payments
    The Apple Card is an expensive way to pay

    It is right for the Fed to lead America towards faster and more efficient bank payments

  • Promoted Content
  • Wednesday, 7 August, 2019
    Intellectual property
    Katy Perry’s music is greater than the sum of its parts

    As courts crack down on copying and sampling in music, artistic freedom is threatened

  • Wednesday, 31 July, 2019
    Retail & Consumer industry
    Pets are making Wall Street wag its tail

    While owners cosset their companion animals, the industry is limiting price competition

  • Friday, 26 July, 2019
    FT Books Essay
    Death is not the end: the lucrative world of literary estates

    The growth of streaming services, demand for audio books and the globalisation of publishing are a boon for a writer’s descendants

  • Wednesday, 24 July, 2019
    Data protection
    Apple Watch must not be Big Brother

    Digital health and security data are too sensitive to be shared by technology companies

  • Wednesday, 17 July, 2019
    Retail & Consumer industry
    Lady Gaga takes on the junk celebrity

    Instagram influencers have broken into the personal brand market led by superstar artists

  • Wednesday, 10 July, 2019
    Deutsche Bank AG
    Deutsche’s bankers were alienated from their jobs

    The way in which Christian Sewing dismissed traders is a symptom of the industry’s lack of loyalty

  • Tuesday, 18 June, 2019
    Consumer trends
    China and new generation shake old order

    AI to electric engines meld with internet infrastructure to open new possibilities

  • Wednesday, 12 June, 2019
    Flying cars
    Flying taxis will bring traffic jams to the sky

    Electric aircraft have better uses than carrying small groups of passengers across cities

  • Wednesday, 5 June, 2019
    Travel & leisure industry
    Cruise ships are hurting the high seas

    The industry needs to be cleaner and more sensitive to the places where it sails

  • Wednesday, 29 May, 2019
    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
    Fiat Chrysler and Renault’s merger is inescapable

    Cultural clashes are less of a risk for carmakers than the high cost of independence

  • Wednesday, 22 May, 2019
    Technology sector
    Technology platforms are losing control

    The land grab for assets across media and food delivery shows their power is under threat

  • Wednesday, 15 May, 2019
    Football
    Premier League wins by creating room at the top for football clubs

    England’s top division shows how to triumph in the age of global sports

  • Wednesday, 8 May, 2019
    Companies
    Home is where the heart of the company is

    Origins matter in business, although they are often ignored

  • Wednesday, 1 May, 2019
    Edward Bramson
    Edward Bramson does not deserve to rule Barclays

    The activist investor has to prove his worth before dictating how the bank is managed

  • Wednesday, 24 April, 2019
    Tesla Inc
    Tesla’s road to autonomy is full of danger

    Elon Musk is speeding too fast as he seeks to dominate self-driving cars

  • Friday, 19 April, 2019
    Lunch with the FT
    Peter Frankopan: ‘We’re in trouble in the long term’

    The Oxford professor on rising China, declining Britain — and the danger of Byzantine books

Previous You are on page 1 Next

Useful links

Support

View Site Tips Help Centre About Us Accessibility myFT Tour Careers

Legal & Privacy

Terms & Conditions Privacy Cookies Copyright Slavery Statement & Policies

Services

FT Live Share News Tips Securely Individual Subscriptions Group Subscriptions Republishing Contracts & Tenders
Executive Job Search Advertise with the FT Follow the FT on Twitter FT Transact Secondary Schools

Tools

Portfolio Today's Newspaper (ePaper) Alerts Hub MBA Rankings
Enterprise Tools News feed Newsletters Currency Converter
More from the FT Group
Markets data delayed by at least 15 minutes. © THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2019. FT and ‘Financial Times’ are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.
The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice.
Financial Times

International Edition

  • Switch to UK Edition
  • Top sections
  • Home
  • World
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • Americas
    • Middle East and North Africa
  • US
    • US Economy
    • US Politics & Policy
    • US Companies
  • Companies
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
  • Tech
  • Markets
    • fastFT
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
    • Moral Money
  • Graphics
  • Opinion
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Instant Insight
    • Lex
    • Alphaville
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
  • Work & Careers
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
  • Life & Arts
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Travel
  • Personal Finance
    • Property & Mortgages
    • Investments
    • Pensions
    • Tax
    • Banking & Savings
    • Advice & Comment
    • Next Act
  • Science
  • Special Reports
  • FT recommends
  • Lex
  • Alphaville
  • EM Squared
  • Lunch with the FT
  • FT Confidential Research
  • Moral Money
  • FTfm
  • Newsletters
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • News feed
  • myFT
  • Portfolio
  • Today's Newspaper (ePaper)
  • Crossword
  • Our Apps
  • Help Centre
  • Subscribe
  • Sign In