Why Earnings Guidance Matters

In an entertaining interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin, IAC Chairman Barry Diller made an impassioned argument that financial guidance is a useless waste of time and management resources for public companies.It’s an old argument, usually framed by high-minded concepts on each side: for adherents, g...

By Jeff Majtyka • June 16, 2020

KKR to Buy Borden Dairy Out of Bankruptcy

Private equity giant KKR and Capitol Peak have won the auction to buy Borden Dairy out of bankruptcy, according to court documents and people familiar with the matter.The deal still needs to be approved by the bankruptcy court in Delaware, where a hearing is scheduled for Thursday. Terms of the d...

By Lauren Muskett • June 16, 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

CFOs’ Lower Bonuses Cut Into Compensation Growth

Growth in chief financial officer’s total pay slowed for the second consecutive year in 2019, according to new data from Compensation Advisory Partners (CAP). The consulting firm said the slower growth was mostly due to decreases in bonus payouts, which were in turn driven by a slowdown in compan...

By Vincent Ryan • June 15, 2020

Hertz Seeks Permission to Sell New Shares Amid Bankruptcy

Hertz Global has asked a bankruptcy judge to approve a deal to sell up to 246.8 million unissued shares, up to $1 billion, to Jefferies even as impending liquidation threatens to wipe out their value.Hertz shares jumped to as high as $5.53 after the filing before falling to under $3 by Friday aft...

By Lauren Muskett • June 12, 2020

Instacart Worth $14B After Latest Financing Round

Grocery delivery platform Instacart is now valued at $14 billion after raising $225 million in a new funding round led by DST Global and General Catalyst.What HappenedInstacart plans to use its new cash to support shoppers and partners and expand initiatives in advertising and enterprise.The COVI...

By Vincent Ryan • June 12, 2020

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending June 12

Marco Wirén will become finance chief at Nokia on September 1. Wirén is currently president of Wärtsilä Energy and executive vice president of Wärtsilä Group. Wirén has held several senior financial roles, including CFO roles at Wärtsilä Group, SSAB Group, and Eltel Networks. He also currently se...

By Lauren Muskett • June 12, 2020

Hamilton Beach to Restate Two Years of Results

Home appliance company Hamilton Beach Brands said it would restate financial results due to accounting irregularities involving its Mexican subsidiary.In a regulatory filing Thursday, Hamilton Beach said a previously disclosed internal investigation determined that employees of the Mexican subsid...

By Matthew Heller • June 12, 2020

Avoiding the COVID-19 Wave of Securities Litigation

In recent years, public companies have been contending with an increase in securities litigation and private companies have been contending with an increase in Securities and Exchange Commission investigations. COVID-19 threatens to accelerate this trend. Company executives must be careful to dis...

By Vincent Ryan • June 11, 2020

Grubhub to Merge with Just Eat Takeaway

Grubhub has reached an agreement to merge with the online takeaway food delivery service Just Eat Takeaway.com as Grubhub’s talks with Uber fell through over concerns about antitrust approval.The deal, announcedby Grubhub and Just Eat Takeaway, gives Grubhub an implied value of $75.15 per share, ...

By Lauren Muskett • June 11, 2020

Johnson & Johnson to Start COVID-19 Vaccine Trials in July

Johnson & Johnson will begin the human clinical trials of its novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine in July, the company announced Wednesday.The human trials of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine were expected to begin in September.The pharmaceutical company said 1,045 volunteers, in t...

By Lauren Muskett • June 11, 2020

Starbucks Sees ‘Rapidly Evolving’ Consumer Preferences

Global coffee and food chain Starbucks released an update Wednesday on its U.S. and China businesses.Beyond “Mitigate And Contain.” Starbucks said it is ready to move beyond the “mitigate and contain” phase to a “monitor and adapt” phase. The company has already re-opened the “vast majority” of s...

By Vincent Ryan • June 11, 2020

FCC Proposes Record $225M Fine for Robocall Campaign

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed fines of $225 million against health care telemarketers who, it said, made one billion robocalls in the first four and a half months of 2019.The FCC said John C. Spiller and Jakob A. Mears, who used business names including Rising Eagle and JSqua...

By Lauren Muskett • June 10, 2020

Nikola Skyrockets After IPO

Nikola Corporation made a dream Wall Street debut last week.Nikola, a manufacturer of battery-electric and hydrogen-electric vehicles, EV powertrains, energy storage systems, and hydrogen fueling infrastructure, made its debut via an acquisition by VectoIQ, a blank check company led by former Gen...

By Lauren Muskett • June 10, 2020

Macy’s Raises $4.5 Billion in New Financing

Macy’s has raised $4.5 billion as it looks to buy new inventory and reopen stores amid fallen from the COVID-19 pandemic.The debt includes $3.15 billion in new borrowings against its real estate assets as well as a previously announced $1.3 billion bond offering.In a statement, chief executive of...

By Lauren Muskett • June 9, 2020

High Fees for Exec-Comp Consultants a Tipoff to Sumptuous CEO Pay: Study

With high CEO pay a decades-long source of agitation among observers of corporate management, it is no surprise that there has been much finger-pointing at the army of executive-compensation (EC) consultants that companies look to for guidance on the matter.For example, an influential Congression...

By Vincent Ryan • June 9, 2020

IBM Discontinues Facial Recognition Technology

International Business Machines Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna, on Monday, said the company is no longer offering general-purpose facial recognition or analysis software, CNBC reported.What Happened“IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recogniti...

By Vincent Ryan • June 9, 2020

BP to Cut 10,000 Jobs

BP plans to cut 15% of its workforce as it responds to the COVID-19 pandemic and shifts to renewable energy.“We will now begin a process that will see close to 10,000 people leaving BP — most by the end of this year,” chief executive officer Bernard Looney said in a statement.Roughly 20% of the j...

By Lauren Muskett • June 8, 2020

Genius Brands CEO Says Short Reports Full Of ‘Misleading Statements’

Genius Brands International, a children’s media company, said Monday that recent short reports are full of “misleading statements, omissions of key facts, and red herrings.”The stock trades around $5.20 per share, after rising from 73 cents on May 12 to as high as $7.93 on June 3.Genius’ response...

By Vincent Ryan • June 8, 2020

Vroom Files for IPO

Vroom has filed with the SEC to raise $300 million in an initial public offering.In an amended registration statement, the used online car seller said it expects to sell 18.75 million shares of common stock at a midpoint price of $16 per share for an enterprise value of $1.6 billion.“The market i...

By Lauren Muskett • June 8, 2020

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending June 5

David Cherechinsky David Cherechinsky, who has served as chief financial officer at DistributionNOW since 2018, was promoted to chief executive officer at the industrial supplies company. Before becoming CFO, Cherechinsky served as the company’s chief accounting officer. Before that, he was vice ...

By Lauren Muskett • June 5, 2020

Shift4 Files for IPO

Payment processing company Shift4 Payments filed to raise a combined $400 million in an initial public offering and a concurrent private placement.The company is looking to sell 15 million Class A shares it expects will price between $19 and $21 a share.Shift4’s chief executive officer, Jared Isa...

By Lauren Muskett • June 4, 2020

Senate Passes Bill Extending Time to Use Paycheck Protection Loans

Small businesses will now have up to 24 weeks to use Paycheck Protection Program loans received during the COVID-19 pandemic. The deadline was raised from eight weeks after the Senate unanimously approved the extension Wednesday.The extension legislation has already been approved by the House of ...

By Lauren Muskett • June 4, 2020

Out of the Shadows

Over the coming months, we are going to emerge from global lockdown into an economy over which the COVID-19 virus will cast its long shadow.  But does that have to be the end of the story? For there is yet another shadow that could go a long way towards neutralizing the worst effects of this mali...

By Vincent Ryan • June 3, 2020

Twitter to Appoint Former Google CFO as Chairperson

Twitter named Patrick Pichette, a former Google executive as the board’s chairperson, bringing an outsider to lead its board for the first time ever.Pichette, who served as a chief financial officer at Alphabet-owned Google, had been on the board as an independent director since the end of 2018, ...

By Lauren Muskett • June 3, 2020

International Crime Scholar Pleads Guilty in Money-Laundering Case

A recognized international scholar on drug cartels and money laundering has pleaded guilty to money laundering over his involvement in a Venezuelan bribery and corruption scheme.Bruce Bagley, a professor at the University of Miami, admitted that, between November 2017 and October 2018, his compan...

By Lauren Muskett • June 2, 2020