Geopolitical Risks and Business Decisions: Lazard CEO Highlights Importance of Context Beyond Financial Spreadsheets

The importance of considering geopolitics in making business decisions has been emphasized by Lazard CEO Peter Orszag. He highlights the need for context beyond just looking at financial spreadsheets. Lazard has a geopolitical advisory unit that analyzes world events and their impact on clients' businesses. Orszag believes that despite lean times for Wall Street, the market for mergers and acquisitions is bottoming out and leading to more constructive discussions with clients. He sees potential catalysts for activity in technology and life sciences. However, he also mentions the need for consolidation in the wake of the regional banking crisis and the possibility of antitrust regulators blocking deals. Orszag acknowledges that challenges remain, such as regional banks' exposure to higher interest rates and rising consumer delinquencies. [827663fe]

The article also briefly mentions Booking.com's launch of a cruise section on its website and Hawaiian Electric's delay in submitting its quarterly filing due to expected contributions towards a fund for wildfire victims in Maui. [827663fe]