Capital Allocation: How to Emerge From the Pandemic In a Stronger Position

COVID-19 has turned many industries upside down. Suddenly, high-performing companies have become cash-constrained during the pandemic while historically low-growth companies are selling out product and are flush with cash. For CFOs on both sides of this spectrum, making quick and effective capita...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 7, 2020

Ruby Tuesday Files for Chapter 11

Ruby Tuesday has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The casual dining chain cited the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.In a statement, the company said it had reached an understanding with secured lenders to support its restructuring.“Th...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 7, 2020

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

Bristol-Myers to Buy MyoKardia for $13B

Bristol-Myers Squibb has reached an agreement to buy the clinical-stage biotech company MyoKardia for $13.1 billion, or $225 per share, in a deal to expand its heart disease treatments.The deal is being funded with a combination of cash and debt.In May, MyoKardia said its experimental drug mavaca...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 5, 2020

The High Costs of An Inefficient Data Strategy

In our universe of ever-increasing data, the ways in which to access it and glean meaningful insights, unfortunately, remains rough terrain at best. Regardless of where on the “data is the new oil” spectrum you fall, there’s no denying that our digital future is here and data is its language, fue...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 5, 2020

Regal Cinemas Forced to Suspend U.S. Operations

Cineworld Group-owned Regal Entertainment, the second-largest movie theater chain in the U.S., is closing all its locations nationwide after movie studios delay big-ticket movies, reports the Wall Street Journal.What Happened: Cineworld operates the second-largest movie theater chain on a global ...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 5, 2020

Walmart Sells U.K. Supermarket Chain Asda

Billionaire brothers, Mohsin Issa and Zuber Issa, and private equity firm TDR Capital have agreed to buy U.K. supermarket chain Asda from Walmart, the companies announced.In a statement, the companies said the deal has an enterprise value of $8.8 billion and is being done on a debt-free and cash-...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 2, 2020

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending October 2

John Lawler John Lawler is the new CFO at Ford. Lawler has most recently been serving as CEO of Ford Autonomous Vehicles and vice president of mobility partnerships. He has spent much of his 30 years at Ford in finance leadership and general management. Lawler served as president of Ford China fo...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 2, 2020

Rolls-Royce to Raise $6.5B to Ease Cash Crunch

Rolls-Royce is turning to its shareholders to help ease the cash crunch that has hit the aircraft-engine maker due to the coronavirus crisis.After flirting with the investment arms of the governments of Kuwait and Singapore, Rolls Royce said Thursday it will offer existing shareholders 10 shares ...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 1, 2020

SAP to Buy Customer Engagement Platform Emarsys

German software giant SAP has reached an agreement to buy Emarsys, a cloud-based customer engagement platform.No purchase price or other terms were disclosed.Once the transaction closes, SAP will enable brands to connect every part of their business to the customer, including experience data,” SA...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 1, 2020

Three Former Manitex Execs Charged With Fraud

Manitex International and three of its former executives have been charged with fraudulent accounting that resulted in the crane maker’s revenue and profit being overstated.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Michael Schneider, Manitex’s former controller and CFO, engaged in a scheme...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 1, 2020

Pension Funds Allege Allianz Mismanaged Assets

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Teamsters, and pension funds for police, firefighters, and city employees in Fairfield, Connecticut, are among the groups that have filed six separate complaints against Allianz Global Investors. The suits allege that the German asset manager deviate...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 30, 2020

Caesars Confirms $3.7B Offer For William Hill

Caesars Entertainment shares rallied on Wednesday morning after the casino company confirmed it’s making a cash offer for U.K. bookmaker William Hill.Last week, U.K. sources reported Caesars is making a buyout offer for William Hill, and Caesars confirmed a $3.7 billion buyout offer this week. Ca...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 30, 2020

What’s the Right Way to Return to the Workplace?

During the COVID-19 crisis, it’s tempting to focus on immediate challenges and sort everything else out later. However, we’re also living during a historic global transformative event with fallout that will affect many aspects of business and everyday life in unpredictable ways for years to come....

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 28, 2020

Interface, ex-CFO Fined $5M for Inflating Earnings

Interface Inc. and its former CFO have agreed to pay more than $5 million to settle charges that they artificially inflated the carpet maker’s earnings to meet analysts’ estimates.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday that Interface’s former Chief Accounting Officer Gregory Baue...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 28, 2020

Cleveland-Cliffs to Buy ArcelorMittal U.S. Operations

Cleveland-Cliffs announced it has reached a deal to buy the U.S. assets of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, for about $1.4 billion. The deal will make Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America and the largest iron ore pellet producer in Nort...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 28, 2020

Ant Group Launches Cross-Border Trade Platform

China-based Ant Group is launching a global blockchain platform for cross-border trade settlements for small to medium-sized enterprises.The company said the “Trusple” platform, based on its Antchain technology, allows users to upload trading orders, automatically generates a contract, and lets t...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 25, 2020

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending September 25

Gina Goetter will become the new finance chief at Harley-Davidson on September 30. Most recently, she served as CFO at Tyson Foods’s prepared foods segment, where she led the reinvention of the segment’s business model to stabilize cash flow and right-size the cost structure. Before Tyson, Goette...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 25, 2020

Power Solutions Fined for Accounting Fraud

Engine maker Power Solutions International has agreed to pay $1.7 million to settle charges that its former CEO and two other former executives fraudulently inflated revenue by almost $25 million to meet its guidance and analysts’ estimates.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the all...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 25, 2020

Harley-Davidson Exits India Market

Harley-Davidson is discontinuing sales and manufacturing in India after more than a decade trying to break in to the world’s largest motorcycle market.In a statement, the company said it was changing its business model and evaluating options to serve customers as part of a previously announced “r...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 24, 2020

CME, Nasdaq to Offer Water Futures

CME Group and Nasdaq said they plan to offer futures contracts based on the Nasdaq Veles California Water Index.The index, launched in 2018, is based on the volume-weighted average of the transaction prices in California’s five largest and most actively traded water markets.In a statement, the co...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 23, 2020

United Wholesale Mortgage Takes SPAC Route to Go Public

United Wholesale Mortgage—the biggest U.S. wholesale mortgage originator—is looking to go public via merger with the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Gores Holdings. This deal could value the lender at $16.1 billion, a record for a SPAC deal.The Wall Street Journal first reported the ne...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 23, 2020

Fed Survey: Household Finances Improve, Uncertainty Remains

U.S. consumer finances were slightly stronger in July versus April according to a survey of households released by the Federal Reserve.The Fed, which released the results as a supplement to its annual Survey of Household Economics and Decision-making, said at least 77% of adults responded they we...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 22, 2020

Nvidia Purchase Of Arm Faces U.K. Scrutiny

Nvidia’s purchase of British chipmaker Arm Ltd from SoftBank Group is under the scanner of the United Kingdom government, Reuters reported late Monday.What Happened: The U.K. Digital Minister Caroline Dinenage told lawmakers that Nvidia’s commitment to keeping the chipmaker’s headquarters and sta...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 22, 2020

Microsoft to Buy Gaming Studio ZeniMax for $7.5B

Microsoft has reached an agreement to buy the gaming studio ZeniMax Media and its publisher Bethesda Softworks for $7.5 billion in cash, the companies announced.ZeniMax, one of the largest privately held gaming companies in the world, is the creator of the franchises The Elder Scrolls and Fallout...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 21, 2020

Sadly, America’s Next Hot Job May Be Chief Restructuring Officer

As thousands of companies struggle to survive in the wake of COVID-19’s economic wreckage, there’s a new power player in many C-suites: the chief restructuring officer.The job is not for the faint of heart. A CRO must push aside all of the internal politics, emotions, and hierarchies to perform t...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 21, 2020