By Robert Cyran
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

NEW YORK — Another breakup wave is hastening the end for some conglomerates. Motorola, Fortune Brands and possibly Sara Lee are doing the splits. Now ITT Corp, an offshoot of a three-way split in 1995, is breaking in three again. The financial benefits of specialization have long been in style. But reviving animal spirits explain the current swell of activity.

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

NEW YORK — Apple has again turned iPhone buzz into gold. Despite all the talk of possible bells and whistles, Verizon Wireless looks to be offering the iconic smartphone on roughly the same terms as AT&T. The only clear winners will be Apple’s masters of hype.

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

NEW YORK — Smith & Nephew looks nice but not necessary for Johnson & Johnson. Buying the $10 billion British orthopedic company would give the U.S. conglomerate added scale and be an attractive use of cash stuck overseas. But J&J may heed potential antitrust concerns and its own history of financial discipline.

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

NEW YORK — What are all those Goldman Sachs clients thinking? They’re snapping up Facebook shares alongside the bank in a deal that values the social network at $50 billion, or an astronomical 25 times 2010 revenue. And that’s before they pay Goldman all sorts of fees for the privilege.

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

The anti-Apple brigade is ready for its next group therapy session. The Consumer Electronics Show, the giant annual tech confab, kicks off on Thursday, when some 125,000 gadget-heads will descend on Las Vegas. Yet again, none of Apple’s hipster crew will attend. Their absence will be more acutely felt than ever, as rivals strain to show off answers to the iPad. Expect plenty of happy talk, defensive posturing and denial but not much in the way of consumer validation.

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

The future is here — it has just not yet gone corporate. About a third of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones, with about half of those powered by Google’s Android and Apple’s operating system. Yet they haven’t made many inroads into banks and other large enterprises. Economic logic suggests technical improvements — and a healthy dose of envy — will change all that in the coming year.

Goldman Sachs’ old-school Facebook deal brings a new set of challenges. The bank is raising up to $1.5 billion from clients to invest in the social network while putting in $450 million itself. Like Morgan Stanley’s reported deal with online coupon service Groupon, it looks like classic merchant banking. With hot firms in the driver’s seat, however, the banks could find themselves in for a wild ride.

Internet darlings, with their growth, profitability and cash, face little pressure to go public yet still have some use for what a fundraising can provide. So instead of an IPO, they rely on so-called D-rounds. This allows them to raise money at favorable valuations for internal use, while buying stock back from employees or early-round investors who want to cash out.

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

NEW YORK — Large companies rarely grow fast due to their sheer size. Yet Apple increased sales by more than 50 percent in 2010. That sent the company’s value up by an astonishing $100 billion to nearly $300 billion. The odds of the tech firm led by Steve Jobs repeating this wondrous performance are low. The shares still look a good bet, though. Apple’s valuation looks oddly subdued once adjusted for its hulking cash pile.

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

NEW YORK — What does the American economy need to get back on its feet? The key may lie in housing, which remains in the doldrums. Recent data does show existing home sales are rising, but increasing mortgage rates won’t aid recovery. What would help tremendously would be fewer roommates.

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, has been crowned Person of the Year by Time magazine. WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange, meanwhile, topped the associated reader poll. Uncommon levels of self-belief, and superior coding abilities, aren’t the only parallels between the two men. Both are leading the technological assault on privacy.