CFOs on the Move: Week Ending May 20

Marketing agency Merkle has chosen Sean Creamer to lead the finance function. He is a former CFO of The Madison Square Garden Co.Delinda Fogel Delinda Fogel has been promoted to the top finance spot at media firm Morris Publishing Group. She had been publisher of The St. Augustine Record and of s...

By Joan Urdang • May 20, 2016

Gambler Charged in Dean Foods Insider Trading Case

U.S. authorities on Thursday charged professional sports gambler William “Billy” Walters with making $40 million by trading on tips he received from a former chairman of Dean Foods who owed him money.The Securities and Exchange Commission said Walters collaborated with Thomas C. Davis on an insid...

By Matthew Heller • May 19, 2016

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Top 5 stories from CFO.com

From CPA licensure changes to undergoing a digital transformation, these are the most popular stories CFOs are reading. 

By CFO.com staff

Walmart’s Numbers Brighten Retail Picture

A day after Target’s disappointing sales casted a shadow on the retail sector, Walmart surprised Wall Street with better-than-expected quarterly results.The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer’s revenue rose 4% to $119.4 billion on a constant currency basis for its fiscal first quarter of 2017, ende...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 19, 2016

Finance Professionals Get Smaller Salary Increases

Corporations reined in pay increases for finance professionals last year amid “extreme caution” over global economic conditions, with executive-level employees seeing the smallest hikes, the Association for Finance Professionals said Tuesday.According to the AFP’s 2015 Compensation Survey, U.S. f...

By Matthew Heller • May 17, 2016

Pumped: CPI Lifted by Gas Prices

Gasoline prices jumped in April, fueling a rise in overall U.S. consumer prices.The Consumer Price Index rose from 0.1% in March to 0.4% in April on a seasonally adjusted basis — the largest one-month increase since February 2013, the Labor Department said Tuesday.The main contributor to the bump...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 17, 2016

Send in the Crowds

Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the crowdfunding exemption) finally goes into effect in the United States today, May 16. But don’t expect a rush of small businesses seeking to tap non-accredited investors for seed funding and other kinds of financing. At least, that’s what t...

By Vincent Ryan • May 16, 2016

Using Project Management to Reduce Risk

As CFO, you’re charged with ensuring that your organization is positioned to deal effectively with all kinds of risks — operational, financial, reputational, and strategic. Assessing your organization’s risk profile through the prism of its portfolio of projects and programs can be a good place t...

By Mark A. Langley • May 16, 2016

Apple Makes $1B Investment in China’s Uber

Apple has announced a $1 billion investment in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, heightening speculation that the tech giant is developing a self-driving car.The investment in China’s Uber is Apple’s largest since it acquired Beats Electronics in 2014. China has been the company’s main e...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 13, 2016

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending May 13

Tiffany CFO Ralph Nicoletti will leave the company this month to become finance chief at Newell Brands, it was announced on Friday morning. At Newell he will replace John Stipanich, who is leaving to pursue other interests.Treasurer Phil Lembo will add the CFO title to his role at Eversource Ener...

By Joan Urdang • May 13, 2016

N.Y. Fed, Bangladesh Bank Join Forces to Solve Cyber-Heist

After blaming each other for one of the largest cyber-heists in history, the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Bangladesh’s central bank, and the SWIFT payment platform pledged Tuesday to work together to solve the crime and recover the $81 million that is still missing.The still-unidentified hacker...

By Matthew Heller • May 10, 2016

HP Launches Venture Unit to Invest in Startups

HP Inc. on Tuesday officially launched a “corporate venture arm” to invest in startups with “cutting-edge technologies.”The move by one of the two companies formed from the breakup of Hewlett-Packard Co. follows the template of other Silicon Valley giants including Intel. HP’s chief technology of...

By Matthew Heller • May 10, 2016

Lumber Liquidators Posts Wider Loss

Lumber Liquidators posted a first-quarter loss that was much worse than expected, on lower sales and continued legal costs due to last year’s carcinogenic laminate flooring scandal.The hardwood-flooring company company posted a loss of $32.4 million, or $1.20 a share in the first quarter, compare...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 10, 2016

The Robo-Accountants Are Coming

A recent story in The New York Times story sent shivers throughout the alleyways of downtown Manhattan with its bold headline, “The Robots Are Coming for Wall Street.” Conjuring images of Arnold Schwarzenegger, armed with scientific calculator and a mandate to snuff out armies of analysts, the st...

By Brian Peccarelli • May 9, 2016

Activision Blizzard Posts Record Revenue

Gaming company Activision Blizzard’s first-quarter results easily beat analysts’ estimates as its Call of Duty: Black Ops III game set a record for monthly active users and the recent acquisition of King Digital expanded its audience.Activision on Thursday reported record non-GAAP revenue of $908...

By Matthew Heller • May 6, 2016

Job Cuts Increase in April to More Than 65,000

After slowing for two straight months, layoffs across the United States increased 35% in April, with large-scale job cuts continuing in the energy industry, according to a new report.The global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas said U.S.-based employers announced plans to ...

By Matthew Heller • May 5, 2016

Ford Invests in Cloud Provider Pivotal

Ford Motor on Thursday said it would invest $182.2 million in Pivotal, a cloud-based software platform company, as part of its plan to be a leader in connected smart cars and mobile apps related to driving.“Our investment in Pivotal will help strengthen our ability to deliver these customer exper...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 5, 2016

Former Mobile Security Execs Fined $4M Over ‘Pure Scam’

Two former tech startup executives have been charged with conning investors out of more than $5 million by misrepresenting that they owned valuable warrants to purchase stock in mobile security products provider eAgency.According to New Jersey regulators, James Trolice of New Jersey and Nevada re...

By Matthew Heller • May 5, 2016

Anonymous to Launch Month-Long Assault on Financial System

Hacktivist group Anonymous on Wednesday posted a YouTube video statement that it was embarking on a 30-day cyberattack called “Operation Icarus,” in which it would target numerous financial organizations including the London Stock Exchange, PayPal, and NASDAQ.“We will not let the banks win, we wi...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 5, 2016

Kellogg’s Q1 Earnings Fall; CFO Retiring

Kellogg posted better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter on the same day the Battle Creek, Mich.-based company announced the retirement of CFO Ron Dissinger.Kellogg said that net income fell 33% to $175 million, or 49 cents a share, due to negative impacts from mark-to-market accounting...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 5, 2016

Ballpark Numbers

The Major League Baseball season is under way, and season ticket holders can pay very different amounts to spend a day at one of the league’s 30 ballparks. For two people, counting season tickets, parking, hot dogs, and beer, the cheapest stadium costs about $110 less a game than the most expensi...

By CFO Editorial Staff • May 5, 2016

Etsy Posts 40% Revenue Gain in Q1

Etsy stock jumped in after-hours trading after the online marketplace reported its first quarterly profit since going public in April 2015 as users and revenue grew.Revenue increased 40% to $81.8 million in the first quarter, primarily reflecting a gain of nearly 60% in services provided to users...

By Matthew Heller • May 4, 2016

Leaning In

Of the 308.7 million people counted in the United States 2010 Census, some 50.8% were women. Seen against that number, the 13.8% of Fortune 500 companies that currently have women occupying the top finance job may not be encouraging to those who value gender diversity, at least when it comes to C...

By Ed Zwirn • May 4, 2016

Double Trouble

The global economic outlook appeared to be taking a turn for the worse in the first quarter of 2016, judging from the latest Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey. Especially noticeable was a sharp drop-off in optimism recorded by Japanese companies, but executives in many c...

By David W. Owens • May 4, 2016

Tech Exec Fined for Insider Trading on Chip Deal

A Silicon Valley executive has been fined more than $500,000 for trading on inside information about a possible merger of semiconductor equipment firms. He obtained the information while acting as a conduit between his employer and the target company.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sa...

By Matthew Heller • May 3, 2016

Baker Hughes Refocusing After Merger Deal Dies

A day after its $34.6 billion merger deal with Halliburton was terminated, oilfield services firm Baker Hughes on Monday outlined a plan to move forward as an independent company that includes a $1.5 billion share buyback.The Houston-based firm will use the $3.5 billion breakup fee from the faile...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 2, 2016