Switzerland Today
Greetings from Bern!
The rumours are true: Roger Federer-backed shoe brand On running has gone public. The company, which says its shoes are akin to running on clouds, is on cloud nine after the Zurich company raised more than $700 million in its IPO. But the company’s executives say that they plan to keep their heads out of the clouds even as they are set to cash in.
There’s other news back on the ground with the poll results out for the September vote and parliament’s autumn session. And, the Bernese football fans are reveling in their surprise victory after what the Guardian called “a night of humiliation” for Manchester United.
In the News: Poll shows solid support for same-sex marriage; but capital gains tax proposal set to fail.
- The proposal to grant marital status to same-sex couples has lost ground but still has solid support according to the poll results ahead of the nationwide vote on September 26. A separate left-wing proposal to introduce a capital gains tax is headed for defeat with only 37% of people polled supporting what has been dubbed the “99% initiative” targeting the wealthy elite.
- Parliament has agreed to allow the authorities to use mobile phones and other electronic devices to track asylum seekers in Switzerland. Left parties called the move a violation of human rights, but Swiss Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said that it would only be used in exceptional cases. Parliament couldn’t come to a decision on another proposal to introduce travel bans for people with temporary residence status in Switzerland. To be continued on this.
- It will take 50 years for women to have equal access to top management posts in Switzerland, according to the Gender Intelligence Report from the University of St Gallen. The survey of around 90 companies found that only 17% of top management posts are held by women, far below the legal quotas on gender diversity in management the government announced a couple years ago. The report points to norms as one of the key factors holding women back – specifically those around full-time work and unequal distribution of care duties at home.
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Talk of the town: On Running has gone public; what’s next?
On Running has exceeded expectations for its IPO today, raising more money than originally planned. According to Bloomberg, its market value is about $7.3 billion based on the outstanding shares listed in filings. The 11-year-old Zurich firm doesn’t plan to let this go to their head.
In an interview in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the co-CEOs asserted that the company cultureExternal link will stay the same – focused on running and nature. Instead of going out to buy Porches and yachts today, the employees at On’s local offices apparently celebrated the IPO by climbing a mountain.
For years, the company had a niche following among athletes and urban trendsetters but this changed when tennis star Roger Federer came on board as an investor and designer of his own shoe line. The company also outfitted the Swiss Summer Olympic Team, giving it visibility and catapulting it into the mainstream and as a viable competitor to the likes of Nike and Adidas.
But the company has always said it wants to do things differently than the big footwear brands on the market. And a big part of that is using its “Swissness” – quality, innovation and design – to its advantage. Industry watchers are curious what the company will do next with the cash influx. One clue, say the CEOs, is the company plans to take on the Chinese market, opening 40-50 new outlets in the country in the “medium term”.
Deep Dive: What airports tell us about how countries see the future of the pandemic.
For many of us that braved Covid restrictions and took an airplane in the past few months, soaring above the clouds never felt so exhilarating. But the starkly different travel experiences at airports in cities like Beijing, Zurich and London are a window into how different cultures deal with pandemic fears and how they view the future.
Sam Jones from the Financial Times writes today about his own experience flying back and forth from Zurich to London. Where Zurich is calm and orderly, London is complex and costly as it copes with the UK’s ever-changing travel and border policies.
In November, as the second wave of the pandemic gripped Europe, Zurich airport opened its gleaming new business conference centre, writes Jones. If Zurich airport is a “signal of Switzerland’s intent after the pandemic, it is one of openness and business as usual”.
Switzerland and Britain are the two big European economies outside the European Union, and if they are serious about trading with the bloc, “it is their airports that count as the litmus test of how that is going”.
But making your way through London airport still pales in comparison to the experience in China where authorities have gone to far-reaching extents to maintain its “no Covid” strategyExternal link. A journalist with the NZZ said his experience traveling to Qingdao, China felt sometimes “like you’re on a mission to the moon”. The journey included seventeen coronavirus tests, three weeks in quarantine, one dead bat, and too many QR codes to count.
What’s your experience been like traveling? Send me a note: jessica.davis@swissinfo.ch.
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