In soccer, sudden death occurs when the result comes down to a single penalty kick. Europe’s professional clubs face a similar nail-biting outcome as mostly empty seats leave them facing financial relegation. To return to health, the beautiful game will have to import an idea from American sports.

Boris Johnson’s “oven-ready” Brexit is almost cooked in time for Christmas. A year after the British prime minister won a landslide by promising to complete the country’s departure from the European Union – and just seven days before the end of the transition period – the two sides finalised a trade deal. Though the compromise avoids painful tariffs and a dangerous rupture in relations, it’s a much harder form of Brexit than Johnson and others envisaged during th

Sponsors of blank-check companies, who already collect up to 20% of a vehicle’s shares in return for very little investment, may have found a way to put in even less effort. A new special-purpose acquisition company is giving itself the option to spin off some of the cash raised into another SPAC. Along with a newly approved way for companies to raise capital alongside a direct listing, the menu of options for going public is getting longer. 

Technology firms are due a green shake-up. Data centres and networks each use around 1% of the world’s electricity, according to the International Energy Agency – more, for now, than electric vehicles. That could hit double-digits by 2030, making related emissions a problem.

The pandemic pet boom has some bark left in it. Locked-down humans adopted four-legged friends at a rapid pace during the lockdowns. This pushed global pet product sales up to $125 billion, according to Packaged Facts. But Fido will require food, treats and medicine after the vaccine arrives, and spending on services like grooming could rise. Companies that have lapped up sales still have room to run.

Frankenstein may have created a monster but imagine stitching together a global, post-pandemic economic version of Mary Shelley’s fictional creature. This would be a country with the strengths of its global counterparts but not their weaknesses, and perfectly positioned to thrive post-Covid-19.

Corona Capital is a column updated throughout the day by Breakingviews columnists around the world with short, sharp pandemic-related insights.

Government grinches have spoiled Alibaba’s Christmas. Investors wiped about 9%, equivalent to $60 billion, off the e-commerce giant’s market value in Hong Kong morning trade after Beijing launched a formal probe into its suspected monopolistic behaviour. A posse of financial regulators are looking further into payment affiliate Ant too.

Online education is about to get an economics lesson. Covid-19 lockdowns rang the bell worldwide for virtual-school financiers, who ploughed money into the burgeoning business from the United States to China. Stragglers should start getting weeded out in 2021. 

China’s WM Motor will start pulling ahead of Tesla wannabes. The Shanghai-based upstart chose a different path to Elon Musk and compatriots such as Nio and Xpeng, opting to list at home instead of New York, and choosing the mass market over luxury. As a result, WM Motor will be close to gross profitability by the time it lists early in 2021.