WHAT’S NEWS

Debt

The IIF has calculated that global debt rose to a record $237 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2017, which is more than $70 trillion higher from a decade earlier, and up roughly $20 trillion in 2017 alone. – IIF

Geopolitics

Rising geopolitical tensions raise probabilities of trade war and other types of wars, such as capital wars, cyber wars and possibly even shooting wars. – By Ray Dalio via LinkedIn

Jack Ma’s Unicorn

Created in 2011 after Jack Ma’s Alibaba split off its Alipay network, Ant Financial is preparing to raise $9 billion in a private funding round, which will make it the world’s largest unicorn. – WSJ

Also in the News:

Tax Bills for Financiers

Hedge-fund star John Paulson facing a $1 billion tax bill to be finally paid this April. Other hedge-fund managers facing enormous tax bills include Steven Cohen, David Einhorn and Daniel Loeb. – WSJ

Mark Zuckerberg’s Testimony

Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony in the US Congress about the Cambridge Analytica data leak, fake news and Russian election-meddling. – Day 1 and Day 2 via Financial Times