Tesla Invests $1.5B In Bitcoin

After publicly backing digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has walked the talk, lending more credibility to cryptocurrency investing.Tesla said it has invested an aggregate $1.5 billion of cash in bitcoin, in line with a change in the investment policy adopted by ...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 8, 2021

Loan System Bugs Holding Up PPP Loans: AICPA

The second round of the Paycheck Protection Program seems to have finally gained some traction, at least according to the data. The Small Business Administration said this week that from January 11 to January 31, more than 890,000 loans worth $72.7 billion had been approved. That’s about one-four...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 5, 2021

Explore the Trendline➔

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

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending February 5

Robert Davis Merck’s chief financial officer, Robert Davis, will take over as the pharma company’s CEO. Davis joined the company as CFO in 2014. Before Merck, he worked for Baxter International, where he was corporate vice president and president of medical products. He held several other positio...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 5, 2021

Former WageWorks CFO, CEO Settle Accounting Case

Two top former executives of employee benefits administrator WageWorks have settled charges that they misled company accountants and auditors, resulting in the improper recognition of $3.6 million in revenue from a client.According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, former CEO Joseph...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 3, 2021

Moving Beyond ‘Survive-at-All-Costs’ Mode

If 2020 taught us one thing, it’s that agility is not as hard as everyone thought it was. When pressed, many major companies with complex supply chains, global geographic footprints, and entrenched systems and processes were able to pivot, retool, and reinvent themselves in a matter of week...

By Rohit Kapoor • Feb. 3, 2021

Banks Paused Tightening in Q4

Fewer U.S. banks reported tightening standards on business loans in the fourth quarter, with only a handful reporting easing standards.The Federal Reserve’s quarterly survey of senior loan officers found that half as many banks on net reported tightening standards on commercial and industrial loa...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 2, 2021

Metric of the Month: Avoiding Payroll Bottlenecks

Payroll is a critical business process that requires coordination and teamwork to run effectively. Even if much of the process is digitized, automated, and outsourced, manual touchpoints can still exist. Employees may have to enter and submit their hours, managers approve them, and payroll staff ...

By Perry D. Wiggins • Feb. 1, 2021

Qualtrics Stock Jumps 52% in Market Debut

After the latest big tech IPO, SAP-spinoff Qualtrics had a strong market debut amid continued investor enthusiasm for the enterprise software business.Shares in Qualtrics, which makes the XM software platform for businesses to track customer interactions, brands and employees, closed on Thursday ...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 29, 2021

Startup CFOs: Consider Adding Debt to the Funding Stack

Private equity and venture capital have a lot in common. Both involve acquiring or investing in promising companies, creating value, and then exiting on predetermined timelines. A key difference between those investing strategies is that while venture deals have historically been funded with equi...

By Gordon Henderson • Jan. 28, 2021

Will Restaurants Recover in 2021?

The U.S. restaurant industry ended 2020 with 2.5 million fewer jobs and more than 110,000 eating and drinking establishments were either temporarily closed or shut down for good, the National Restaurant Association says in a report.Job Losses: The majority of restaurants and bars that closed in 2...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 27, 2021

Epicor Software Names New CFO

On Tuesday, Epicor Software announced that it appointed a new finance chief in the wake of its purchase by private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice last year.Samuel Monti, former CFO of Khoros, will be joining Epicor’s executive team as chief financial officer. Monti has more than 25 years...

By Vincent Ryan • Jan. 26, 2021

Could GameStop Short Squeeze Affect the Overall Stock Market?

Short squeezes in GameStop and others like the clothing retailer Express has seen a frenzy of late due to internet message boards, but is it possible that such volatility may end very badly for the wider market? Analysts and experts are presenting a mixed picture.Blast from the Past: BTIG head of...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 26, 2021

AMC Raises $917 Million to Keep Theaters Open

Shares of AMC Entertainment soared on Monday after the theater chain said it had raised enough new capital to see it through the coronavirus pandemic, assuming moviegoing rebounds in the second half of 2021.AMC, the nation’s largest theater chain, had warned last month that it needed to raise at ...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 26, 2021

Anheuser-Busch Pulls Budweiser Super Bowl Ads

Super Bowl ad heavyweight Budweiser will not be paying for a commercial slot to advertise its brand during this year’s game and would instead invest in COVID-19 vaccine awareness. It is the first time in 37 years the beer giant will not be appearing in an in-game ad.Anheuser-Busch is still planni...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 26, 2021

Taboola Going Public in SPAC Deal

Israeli open web company Taboola is going public via a SPAC deal.The SPAC Deal: Taboola, which provides recommendations for the open web, is valued at $2.6 billion in a SPAC deal with ION Acquisition.The $285 million private investment in public equity on the SPAC deal is led by investors that in...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 25, 2021

Data and AI Belong At the Heart of ESG Initiatives

Amid a tumultuous economic landscape and rapidly changing consumer expectations, companies have a new north star: sustainable transformation. For years, the C-level has focused on digital transformation to accelerate business and address consumer demands. So, some enterprise digital capabilities ...

By Vincent Ryan • Jan. 25, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending January 22

Kelly MacDonald Dynavax appointed Kelly MacDonald finance chief. MacDonald joins the biopharmaceutical company from Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, where she was most recently chief accounting officer and vice president of finance. While at Ironwood, she also held other managerial roles, providing fina...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 22, 2021

COVID-19: The Risk Management Part Is Unfinished

It is January 2021, and the world is in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. To control the spread of the disease, economic and social activities worldwide have been severely curtailed. Governments and organizations struggle to manage through the situation and strike an appropriate balance between...

By John R.S. Fraser, Rob Quail, and Betty J. Simkins • Jan. 21, 2021

Sequoia Holdings to Offer Cryptocurrency Payments to Employees

Software development and engineering firm Sequoia Holdings said it would allow employees to be paid in part in cryptocurrencies. In a statement, the company said it was beginning a program that would allow employees to defer portions of their salaries into bitcoin, bitcoin cash, or Ethereum.Sequo...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 21, 2021

7 SPACs to Play the Rise of Bitcoin, Crypto Stocks

The rise in the value of Bitcoin and media coverage of cryptocurrencies could make the industry ripe for startups going public in 2021. One of the methods for cryptocurrency companies to go public could be through a special purpose acquisition company.Coinbase is considering a 2021 initial public...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 21, 2021

Low Rates, Fewer Loans Cut BofA’s 4Q Profits

Bank of America reported Tuesday that quarterly profit fell sharply amid rock-bottom interest rates and a shrinking loan portfolio.For the fourth quarter, the bank’s net interest income declined 16% from a year earlier to $10.25 billion, contributing to a 22% drop in profit to $5.47 billion from ...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 19, 2021

The Board’s Role in Crisis Response

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to reevaluate their operations and execute contingency plans in an attempt to weather the economic crisis. But what about the next crisis? Boards and management should have crisis plans at the ready.As noted at the 2018 Harvard Law School Forum ...

By Jonathan F. Foster • Jan. 19, 2021

Poshmark Pops in Latest Big Market Debut

Shares in online fashion reseller Poshmark soared in their trading debut Thursday as investors showed a healthy appetite for secondhand merchandise.The Poshmark pop continued a spectacular run for IPOs, with the stock jumping more than 140% to $101.50. The offering on Wednesday valued the company...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 15, 2021

What Good Looks Like in Cybersecurity

We live in insecure times, and it’s not for lack of trying to develop effective cyber defenses. Naturally, C-level executives want to know what good looks like and how to measure it. Penetration tests, internal vulnerability scans, and IT control checklists remain go-to tactics, but a new generat...

By Craig Callé • Jan. 14, 2021

Massive Short Squeeze Sends GameStop Soaring 80%

GameStop shares skyrocketed more than 80% on Wednesday before pulling back in what is likely the largest short squeeze of 2021 so far.What Happened: GameStop reported no major news on Wednesday, suggesting the massive rally in the stock was simply a textbook short squeeze.Why It’s Important: On M...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 14, 2021