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this week no fewer than four
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billionaires have said some very nice
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things about Britain and actually some
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very interesting things too so let's see
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what they've been talking about welcome
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to the week in business with me
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May black Rockck CEO Larry Frink Virgin
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Supreo Sir Richard Branson businessman
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John Caldwell and JP Morgan top dog
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Jamie Diamond quite the quartet have all
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made some fascinating interventions this
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week let's start with Black Rockck the
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world's largest investor running more
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than 11 trillion dollar on behalf of
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pension funds private clients and
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sovereign wealth funds ceo Larry Frink
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told the Times that they're bullish on
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Britain believing UK assets to be
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undervalued frink was explicit saying he
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has more faith in the UK economy now
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than he did a year ago he went on to
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sing the government's praises rowing in
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behind Labour's long-term growth agenda
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and of course long-term is the key
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phrase here when you're deploying
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hundreds of billions of pounds into UK
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investments you're not looking to cash
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out just because the footsy hits a new
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high black Rockck plays the long game
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we're talking about major infrastructure
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investment and multi-deade time frames
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you could argue that Frink is putting
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his money where my mouth is in the sense
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that regular viewers will know that I'm
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fully supportive of the government's
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long-term agenda on infrastructure
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housing planning reform nuclear energy
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new runways a veritable shopping list
1:29
for the likes of BlackRock the concerns
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about employment rights reform or
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national insurance contributions do not
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bother the likes of Black Rockck any
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more than daily market movements do or
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any more than a fly would bother an
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elephant these kinds of investors look
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above the fray to place long-term bets
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and it's encouraging that the UK is seen
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as a safe haven for long-term capital
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larry Frink's view was echoed by one of
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the world's top bankers Jamie Diamond
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who told the FT yesterday that he fully
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supports Rachel Reeves's progrowth
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agenda based on the government's
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commitments to open markets in the face
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of Trump's tariffs and the ambition to
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boost UK infrastructure spending while
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reviewing regulatory burdens diamond
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still puts the odds of the US economy
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tumbling into recession at 50/50 so
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again it's encouraging that he views the
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UK as a solid bet now let's turn to our
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third billionaire John Cordwell who also
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has strong views on the state of the
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United States and he uses his city
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column today to suggest that the UK
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could benefit from a flood of US talent
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leaving the country indeed he says that
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we should roll out the red carpet for
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the scientists academics medical
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researchers and highly skilled
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individuals either quitting or being
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fired from US institutions as the Trump
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administration asserts itself cordwell
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cites research showing a remarkable mass
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migration of minds and money out of the
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US and towards Europe his message to
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those wishing to escape the MAGA mindset
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is that the UK offers a leading research
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ecosystem fueled by some of the world's
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best universities in addition to one of
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the only trillion dollar tech sectors
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outside of the US and he's echoing a
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point made by another of our columnists
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Lewis Louu the AI founder and US citizen
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with a soft spot for Britain lewis wrote
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a few weeks ago that as much as it pains
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him to advocate it the UK should be
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aggressively going after US talent in
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science academia the law tech luring
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them to the UK with the promise of
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stability and our fourth billionaire Sir
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Richard Branson made the same point this
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week when he was in London opening a new
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Virgin Hotel in Shortage and he told the
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BBC that the UK is one of the few
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countries in the world that is stable
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and that Trump's unpredictability has
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caused huge damage to the US he said the
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UK remains a fantastic place to start a
3:43
business even if he did nod to record
3:45
high taxes he's right of course that the
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UK is a fantastic place to start and
3:50
grow a business which is why I've spent
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so much time ranting on this show about
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the poor short-term decisions the
3:56
government has made decisions which do
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make it harder and more expensive to
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hire people and grow policies that make
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life harder for us mere mortals even if
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they don't trouble the billionaires but
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if we allow ourselves to think like a
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billionaire investor to look beyond the
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noise the disruption and the mistakes of
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the here and now then yes the future is
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bright and yes it's nice to hear these
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four billionaires say so that's it from
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me this week stay up to date and in the
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know with the city app and on cityam.com
4:24
and I'll see you next week
