CFOs On the Move: Week Ending July 2

Naveen Chopra Naveen Chopra will become the new chief financial officer at ViacomCBS on August 10. Chopra will join the company from Amazon, where he is CFO of Amazon’s devices and services business. Previously, Chopra was chief financial officer at audio streaming service Pandora, where he led a...

By Lauren Muskett • July 2, 2020

U.S. Treasury Lends $700M to Troubled Trucking Company

Controversial trucking company YRC Worldwide has been given a $700 million loan by the U.S. Treasury Department.In a statement, the company said it was being given the loan under the CARES Act after it was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Treasury Department said the loan was ...

By Lauren Muskett • July 1, 2020

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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

Metric of the Month: Total Cost to Reward and Retain Employees

In times of economic downturn, it is incumbent on every finance leader to take a hard look at spending and make cuts as needed to keep the business strong. While every cost should be on the table, this month I’m going to advocate a move that may seem counterintuitive. If you have the finances to ...

By Perry D. Wiggins • July 1, 2020

Cirque du Soleil Files for Bankruptcy

The French-Canadian acrobatics and circus company Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group has filed for bankruptcy protection as part of a “comprehensive plan” to restart its business.The company cited the “immense disruption and forced show closures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”Cirque du S...

By Lauren Muskett • June 30, 2020

BP Sells Petrochemicals Business to Ineos for $5B

U.K. energy giant BP has reached an agreement to sell its petrochemicals business to Ineos for $5 billion.The deal includes a $400 million deposit by Ineos and $3.6 billion on completion. The remaining $1 billion will be paid in three separate installments by June 2021.In buying the petrochemical...

By Lauren Muskett • June 29, 2020

Three Ways COVID-19 is Accelerating Digital Transformation in Professional Services

Digital transformation was a line item on many business agendas long before COVID-19 came along. But the pandemic catapulted it to the top of the priority list for virtually every business in the world. Now, as we start to look past the immediate pandemic crisis response and toward a “new normal”...

By Vincent Ryan • June 29, 2020

Shale Oil Company Chesapeake Energy Files for Bankruptcy

Chesapeake Energy filed for bankruptcy on Sunday to carry out balance sheet restructuring.According to CEO Doug Lawler, by filing for Chapter 11, Chesapeake will eliminate $7 billion in debt and address its legacy financial weaknesses. It would also be able to take advantage of its operational st...

By Lauren Muskett • June 29, 2020

Novartis Settles U.S. Bribery Charges

Global pharmaceutical giant Novartis has agreed to pay $112 million to settle with the Securities and Exchange Commission over charges it violated the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.According to the SEC, between 2012 and 2016, th...

By Lauren Muskett • June 26, 2020

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending June 26

JLL Names Karen Brennan CFO Jones Lang LaSalle appointed Karen Brennan as chief financial officer, effective July 15. Brennan, who has been with the real estate and investment management company for more than 20 years, is currently the chief executive officer of its operations in Europe. As CEO f...

By Lauren Muskett • June 26, 2020

Infectious Economy: The Quiz

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home orders threw the U.S. economy into a tailspin late in the first quarter. It wreaked havoc on households and businesses, putting an abrupt end to record-low unemployment and more than five straight years of quarterly GDP growth. Take our quiz to...

By CFO Editorial Staff • June 26, 2020

Chuck E. Cheese Parent Files for Chapter 11

CEC Entertainment, the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese, has filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas citing financial damage caused by COVID-19.The company, which also owns Peter Piper Pizza, said same-store sales fell 21.9% during the firs...

By Lauren Muskett • June 25, 2020

Regaining Momentum in Cross-Border Operations

Will nothing derail U.S. companies’ international expansion plans?Apparently not, was the answer provided by January 2020 and April 2020 surveys by CFO Research and Vistra. The CEOs, CFOs, and other senior finance executives surveyed took a long view of their international operations strategies a...

By Lauren Muskett • June 25, 2020

In Pursuit of Better Analytics

COVID-19 has brought about one of the strangest business environments in memory, and more than ever leaders need data to determine how to survive it. It has pushed finance professionals, particularly those engaged in finance analytics, into the limelight. They are being asked to build forecasts a...

By Rachele Collins and Mercy Harper • June 25, 2020

Shining a Light on Earnings Adjustments

As the financial impact from COVID-19 unfolds, many companies are grappling with sudden and dramatic shifts in business demand. For some, protracted stay-at-home orders mean significantly reduced revenues, higher costs from supply chain disruption and other matters, and suppressed levels of earni...

By Jonathan Nus and Michael Tamulis • June 24, 2020

Mastercard to Buy Finicity

Mastercard has reached a deal to buy the financial data-provider Finicity for $825 million, the companies said. The deal could result in an additional earn-out of $160 million for Finicity shareholders if certain performance targets are met.  The companies said Finicity’s complementary technology...

By Vincent Ryan • June 23, 2020

Tuesday Regulatory Briefing: Supreme Court Puts Limits on SEC Penalties

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission can force wrongdoers to give back the profits of their illegal conduct. However, it put a new limit on how much can be recouped.In an 8-1 decision, the justices ruled that the SEC’s disgorgement authority is limite...

By Vincent Ryan • June 23, 2020

Microsoft to Buy Startup CyberX

Microsoft announced it is acquiring the security startup CyberX.In a blog post, the tech giant said the deal was part of a wider initiative to accelerate and secure deployment of the internet of things (IoT).Financial terms were not disclosed, but TechCrunch said the Israeli company was valued at...

By Vincent Ryan • June 22, 2020

Wirecard CEO Resigns Amid Cash Mystery

Wirecard CEO Markus Braun has resigned a day after the scandal-wracked German payments firm disclosed it was missing $2 billion in cash.Braun’s abrupt departure capped a tumultuous 48 hours during which Wirecard’s shares crashed by more than 80%, wiping nearly 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) off...

By Matthew Heller • June 22, 2020

Grocery Retailer Albertsons Plans to Raise $1.3B in IPO

Albertsons on Thursday said it expected to raise up to $1.3 billion in its initial public offering.IPO PricingThe grocery retailer is hoping to sell 65.8 million shares priced between $18 and $20 per share. Underwriters for the IPO will have an option to purchase an additional 9.87 million shares...

By Vincent Ryan • June 19, 2020

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending June 19

Sonia Jain Cars.com has appointed Sonia Jain as finance chief, effective July 6. Jain joins the company from the video rental and streaming company Redbox where she served as CFO. Before Redbox, Sonia was vice president of finance and treasurer with Outerwall. She was previously an investment ban...

By Lauren Muskett • June 19, 2020

KKR to Buy Dutch Vacation Company Roompot

Private equity giant KKR has reached an agreement to buy the Dutch vacation company Roompot from European private equity firm PAI Partners, the companies said in a statement.Financial terms were not disclosed, but Reuters, citing a source familiar with the transaction, said Roompot was valued at ...

By Lauren Muskett • June 18, 2020

Capitalizing On the Lease Accounting Deadline Extension

Traditional lease accounting adoption methodologies involve significant upfront costs, resources and software deployment. The ongoing, sustained compliance with the new lease accounting standards also requires a commitment of internal resources, time, software administration, and training.Due to ...

By Vincent Ryan • June 18, 2020

Adidas Employees Call for Investigation Into HR Chief

A group of Adidas employees asked the company to investigate its chief human resources officer, Karen Parkin, over allegations she has not appropriately responded to issues of racism at the shoe and clothing giant.In a letter to executives, 83 employees from five of the company’s offices in Germa...

By Lauren Muskett • June 17, 2020

Pension Risk Transfer: Plan Terminations, Buyouts, Lift-Outs, and Buy-Ins

In this second article on pension risk transfer, Legal & General’s Chief Executive Nigel Wilson describes ways that companies can optimize the transfer of pension risk, whether through a buyout or buy-in, plan termination, or lift-out.  In our first article, we talked about the $6.6 trillion ...

By Vincent Ryan • June 17, 2020

DoorDash Sued for Flouting Gig-Worker Law

In a complaint filed before a California court, Chesa Boudin, District Attorney for San Francisco, alleged DoorDash was in violation of the state law, which forbids companies from classifying employees as independent contractors.A California law that requires firms to label gig-workers as employe...

By Lauren Muskett • June 17, 2020