Table of contents for December/January 2021 in Fortune

EVERY YEAR in Fortune’s annual Investor’s Guide, we make a point of letting readers know how our previous year’s picks performed. Such disclosures have made us look good of late—the more than two dozen stocks and ETFs our investment team recommended in last December’s guide earned a median return of 20.6% since we published the list, edging past the S&P 500 over the same time period. Meanwhile, last year’s Future 50 port- folio, which we put together with our partner BCG, has trounced that bench- mark, returning nearly 71%. (To see our investment picks for 2021 as well as the latest edition of the Future 50, please see our stories beginning on page 46 and page 113.) But accountability should go beyond what we say, it must also apply to…

JEFF BEZOS BUYS AN NFL TEAM Many thought it would happen in 2019 or 2020, but in 2021 Bezos finally uses his fortune to get ahold of one of the most valuable franchises in sports, whether it’s the nearby Seattle Seahawks or the Washington Football Team. Either way, he’ll cough up a record amount for a sports franchise of any type, and the Mark Cuban comparisons will abound. AN OLYMPIC BUBBLE “Bubbles” set up by the NWSL and the NBA proved sporting events can still be held safely, and they’ll be the model for the Tokyo Summer Games. Expect many drastic changes, including welcoming far fewer ticketed attendees, having athletes quarantine weeks prior to the opening ceremonies, and regular testing for the duration of the competition. MONEY MOVES TO…

BY THE DUBIOUS STANDARDS OF GOVERNMENT FINANCE, the past decade was almost a model of prudence in statehouses across the U.S. After the financial crisis of 2008—a rare instance when collective state revenue fell—many states created new (or supplemented existing) “rainy day” funds. As a result, state and local governments entered 2020 with a combined $119 billion in such savings, according to the Brookings Institution. But the economic slowdown caused by COVID-19 has blown up budgets from coast to coast, and the impact will be lasting. Moody’s Analytics estimates that state and local government budget shortfalls could be a combined $450 billion over the next three years even as the economy recovers. Above, a state-by-state breakdown of the looming deficits.…

THIS EDITED Q&A HAS BEEN CONDENSED FOR SPACE AND CLARITY. “The good thing for our business is that digital has been on afterburners. Everybody has embraced contactless commerce.” GUIDING CAPITALISM Ajay, you’ve had a remarkable tenure—Mastercard’s revenue is up an annualized 12.7% over the past decade. Profit has climbed 18.7% a year, and return on capital has soared at a 40% annual clip. 2 These numbers blow away the comparable stats for Visa and American Express. But your CEO playbook seems to start with an unconventional play—at least as far as Wall Street is concerned: Invest in your employees first. BANGA: I’m actually an old-fashioned believer in capitalism. It’s lifted a lot of people out of poverty. But what we need to do today is to reposition it for…

BREXIT FOOD SHORTAGES Although it is now belatedly spending $1 billion to build new border infrastructure, the U.K.’s preparations for Brexit remain incomplete. Expect miles-long lines of trucks at U.K. and French ports, and the very real possibility of food and medicine shortages. BORIS OUT Boris Johnson may have once prevaricated about Brexit, but his political identity is now bound to it. British businesses will soon learn the reality of the project, and it is unlikely to go well. Expect Johnson’s premiership to meet an early end. CHINA VACCINATES THE WORLD In 2021, Chinese vaccine makers will supply more vaccines globally than Western firms. Chinese companies currently in Phase III trials are focusing on technologies that won’t require as much cold storage capacity as mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and…

“THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.” But at the Best Workplaces in Retail—an annual list Fortune compiles with Great Place to Work—it’s happy employees that make a winner. Wegmans, which has now taken the top spot five years in a row, drew raves from its workers. “During this year of many unknowns, working at a place where you feel safe and comfortable while also being your own person has been a huge task that Wegmans has taken on amazingly,” one employee wrote. A Burlington Stores (No. 10) employee lauded management, saying they were “ready to deal with the unexpected possibilities of reopening.” Leadership in 2020 also meant speaking up about issues of systemic racism. Yolanda Royall-Williams, VP of people and engagement at Wireless Vision (No. 11), shared a video to address…

AMONG THE MANY crises that have kept Americans awake at night in 2020, one that looms large is the idea of a “K-shaped recovery” from COVID-19. That’s the premise, backed by a growing body of evidence, that a year of lockdowns, isolation, and uncertainty have widened the wealth gap between America’s work-from-home managerial classes and its paycheck-to-paycheck frontline workers—with the two groups’ well-being moving in opposite directions like the arms of a “K.” The stock market, meanwhile, has undergone its own K-shaped recovery, albeit one with less dire consequences. Borne up by events that made us more dependent than ever on technology, from e-commerce to teleconferencing, the five Big Tech stocks lumped under the awkward acronym FAAMG—Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google—have returned 52.5% year to date, compared with…

The ranks of powerful women who have been forced out of the companies they created continue to grow. Now some in the startup world are asking: Are female founders being unfairly targeted? LAST FALL, Audrey Gelman seemed to be on top of the business world—or at least one pale-pink corner of it. At 32 years old, the former political operative and well-connected New Yorker had raised more than $117 million in venture capital for the Wing, the upscale women’s club and coworking startup she had cofounded in 2016. Women from Los Angeles to London flocked to the Wing’s pastel-painted offices and star-studded events, where movie stars and presidential candidates alike talked about “asking for what you want” and “blazing your own trail.” By September 2019, Gelman was celebrating her…

BUSINESS. DISTILLED. Only in 2020 would CEOs welcome a new President who promises to raise their taxes, intensify business regulation, and massively empower labor unions. Yet Big Business is largely bullish on Joe Biden. Exactly what the President-elect will do, or can do, once he’s in office depends heavily on the makeup of the Senate. That won’t be determined until the runoff elections for both of Georgia’s seats on Jan. 5. But Biden has declared several specific actions he will take if he can. And after 50 years in public life, his instincts are clear. The one-sentence description of Biden’s economic inclinations is this: The middle class and working class should get more, and the wealthy should get less. He’s no socialist; for most of his political career he’s been…

Virtual Doc Visits Are Here to Stay Telemedicine was always the wave of the future; the COVID pandemic just hastened its arrival. As hospitals remain overwhelmed with coronavirus patients, many medical centers have had to cut back on procedures that take place on-site. CVS and subsidiary Aetna beefed up discounts for telehealth visits during the outbreak, and the total market could near $25 billion in the U.S. alone by 2027. Don’t expect this wave to crest post-pandemic. Vaxxers Beat Out Anti-vaxxers, Narrowly With promising candidates from Pfizer and Moderna, medical experts say they expect widespread distribution of coronavirus vaccines by the middle of 2021. But persuading people to get one is its own challenge. Polls have fluctuated but suggest only 50% to 58% of people will definitely get vaccinated.…

THIS SUMMER, investor Nathan Anderson got a juicy tip. The subject: Nikola Corp. On June 4, the Phoenix-based electric-vehicle maker had gone public through a reverse merger. In a year of euphoric demand for growth stocks, particularly EV makers, this one stood out. Nikola bulls believed the company would do for hydrogen-powered, long-haul trucking what Tesla has done for electric cars. Within a week, investors had pushed its market cap above $34 billion, enough to overtake Ford and Fiat Chrysler even though the upstart had yet to sell a single vehicle. The tipster wasn’t buying the hype. Neither was Anderson, a 36-year-old CFA turned whistleblower turned short-seller. The source put Anderson, the founder of Hindenburg Research—a five-person investment research firm with no clients, no license to manage investors’ money, and…

The startup’s stock-trading app is a runaway hit. But can Robinhood persuade wealthier customers to trust it with serious money? VLAD TENEV, like so many CEOs these days, is working from home. A thin 33-year-old with jet-black hair down to his shoulders, Tenev has joined a video call to discuss how his company—Robinhood, maker of the wildly popular eponymous stock-trading app—plans to capitalize on its recent growth. But he also has other transitions on his mind. A father of two, Tenev explains that his younger child is in the final stages of potty training—a milestone that feels especially significant given Tenev’s own upbringing. “When I grew up, in Bulgaria, there were never enough diapers available,” he recounts. “So there was huge pressure to move on from diapers.” Though he…

MARKED FOR SUCCESS We used our proprietary methodology to identify the 50 global companies best positioned to deliver above-average gains to investors. They’re presented here in two ways: below, ranked in order by overall “vitality” score; and on the pages that follow, grouped by business focus. BIG TECH PLATFORMS Naver 2020 RANK: 33 SOUTH KOREA (KS: 035420, $252) • Naver, which runs the biggest search engine in South Korea, has lately been focused on fast-growing businesses like fintech, cloud storage, and digital comics (its cartoon platform has nearly 70 million monthly users)—moves that helped it grow operating revenue 24% in the most recent quarter. The company is in the midst of merging its messaging app with SoftBank’s Z Holdings (formerly Yahoo Japan) in a deal slated to close next year.…

EXPLORE A WORLD OF NEW TASTES THE FOODIE CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: East Fork Pottery “The Mug” Handmade in Asheville, N.C.; $36. Trade Coffee Pair coffee lovers with beans from the country’s top roasters; $60 for three bags. Winc A wine subscription based on a personal flavor profile; from $60. Snowe Wineglasses; $60 for four. Marble cheese board; $75. Russ & Daughters American Caviar Sampler Three 50-gram tins of the finest domestic caviar, complete with crème fraîche and blinis. Decadent; $345. MORE THAN EVER, ’TIS THE SEASON TO GET COZY THE HOMEBODY CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Our Place The Always Pan The pan that took Instagram by storm. Sauté, steam, sear, or sizzle; $145. Poketo Jazz up a picnic or dinnertime at home with these designer bamboo plates in a variety of bold designs; $48 for four. Group Partner Faces Planter Whimsy up a houseplant. Designed…