Zynga to Buy Peak Games for $1.8B

Social-gaming company Zynga has entered into an agreement to buy Peak Games for $1.8 billion, the companies said.The deal for Peak, a mobile-gaming company based in Istanbul, will include $900 million in cash and approximately $900 million of Zynga common stock based on the volume-weighted averag...

By Lauren Muskett • June 1, 2020

Buffett Rebuffed

Warren Buffett was unequivocal in his criticism of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s ASU 2016-01 — the new accounting for equity securities passed in 2016 and implemented in 2018. In his 2017 letter to shareholders, Buffet noted: “The new rule says that the net chang...

By Sandra Peters • June 1, 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

House Passes Bill to Ease Rules for Payroll Protection

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 417-1 to pass a bill that would give small business owners more flexibility in how they use the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).The House bill, called the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act, would reduce the proportion of the pandemic-response funds that...

By Lauren Muskett • May 29, 2020

The Health Care Backlog Is a $52B Problem

U.S. companies and consumers are facing a health care problem that nearly all are woefully unprepared for. While employers have been focused on near-term mitigation of COVID-19 impacts on their workforces and businesses, many CFOs haven’t considered the longer-term ramifications the pandemic will...

By Katie Rooney • May 29, 2020

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending May 29

Cosmetic packaging company WWP has hired Jennifer Adams as its global chief financial officer. Most recently, Adams served as chief operations officer and chief financial officer at women’s denim company NYDJ Apparel. Before NYDJ Apparel, she spent nearly five years as CFO for fashion and apparel...

By Lauren Muskett • May 29, 2020

Judge Rules Huawei CFO’s Extradition Case Can Go Forward

A judge in Canada has ruled that the U.S. extradition case against senior Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou can continue since the allegations against Meng constitutes a crime in Canada.Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei and chief financial officer of the company, was ar...

By Lauren Muskett • May 28, 2020

Finance During the Crisis: Five Lessons from CFOs

COVID-19 has changed everything for businesses, and chief financial officers and their teams have been heads down since the pandemic began. After ensuring the physical safety of their people and establishing remote working arrangements, the CFOs’ top priority has been managing liquidity in a wild...

By Vincent Ryan • May 28, 2020

U.S. GDP Contracts 5% in Q1 as Corporate, Consumer Spending Plunge

The U.S. GDP contracted 5% in the first quarter of 2020, the largest since the 2008 recession.The metric was worse than the 4.8% drop economists projected, and it heralds the end of the nation’s longest recorded expansion period and a steep drop from the previous quarter’s 2.1% growth.“The declin...

By Lauren Muskett • May 28, 2020

GE to Sell Iconic Lightbulb Business

General Electric will sell its iconic lightbulb business, which dates to the period when the company was co-founded by Thomas Edison.In a statement, GE said it had reached a deal to sell the GE Lighting division to Savant Systems. Financial details were not disclosed. The Wall Street Journal repo...

By Lauren Muskett • May 27, 2020

How CFOs Can Help Accelerate Divestitures in the Current Crisis

The COVID-19 crisis has underscored the need for companies to consider divestitures to solve immediate liquidity needs and to free up the capital to invest for the future. CFOs, with their view of the overall business from both a financial and strategic perspective, can accelerate the divestiture...

By Vincent Ryan • May 27, 2020

Warner Moves Forward With IPO

Warner Music Group has restarted plans for an initial public offering.In an amended registration filing, the music giant said it will offer 70 million shares of Class A common stock at a target price of $23 to $26 per share, raising as much as $1.8 billion for shareholders. The company would be v...

By Lauren Muskett • May 26, 2020

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending May 22

Brian DelGhiaccio Brian DelGhiaccio was promoted to finance chief at waste collection company Republic Services, effective June 1. DelGhiaccio, who is currently executive vice president and chief transformation officer, joined Republic Services in 1998 and has since held roles of increasing respo...

By Lauren Muskett • May 22, 2020

The Case for a Partnership Between Trade Credit Insurers and the U.S. Government

A lifeguard on a beach, a spare tire in the trunk, and a bicycle helmet. What do these three things have in common? If you were to ask me, I’d say these are things that keep us protected if something were to go wrong. We might not think about or even appreciate them on a daily basis, but we are c...

By Vincent Ryan • May 21, 2020

Akorn Files for Chapter 11 After Failed Takeover

Generic drugmaker Akorn has filed for Chapter 11 protection in bankruptcy court in Delaware following a series of quality-control problems that led to the breakup of a $4.3 billion takeover offer from the German medical company Fresenius.In its petition, Akorn listed $10 billion of debt and $10 b...

By Lauren Muskett • May 21, 2020

The LIBOR Floor Is Rising

David Greenberg As interest rates collapsed during the financial crisis of 2008, lenders began incorporating LIBOR (London Inter-bank Offered Rate) floors into credit facilities primarily for non-investment-grade companies. These provisions have also been far more common in European loans as rate...

By Vincent Ryan • May 21, 2020

How Cannabis Cultivator Grassroots Upped Its Digital Game When States Shut Down

Lisa Hurwitz had only been with Grassroots for 18 months when the coronavirus pandemic rocked cannabis businesses nationwide.Like other pot professionals, she had to pivot almost overnight when shelter-in-place mandates were ordered. Shoppers were no longer able to stroll into stores with cash in...

By Vincent Ryan • May 20, 2020

Trump Administration Unveils Deal to Make COVID-19 Drugs in U.S.

The Trump administration has announced a project to use $354 million in federal funds from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) under the Department of Health and Human Services to manufacture generic medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients that are needed to treat ...

By Lauren Muskett • May 19, 2020

How to Keep the Bankers and Investors on Your Side During a Recession

I’ve been in my career long-enough now to experience four recessions: in 1991, 2001, 2008, and right now. Despite some individual differences (this is the first one brought on by a health crisis, for instance), by and large they follow the same blueprint: initial warning signs leading to a crisis...

By Vincent Ryan • May 19, 2020

SelectQuote Files for IPO

SelectQuote is looking to raise about $342 million in an initial public offering that could value the online insurance broker at more than $3 billion, the company said.On Friday, SelectQuote filed an amended prospectus to offer about 18 million shares, priced between $17 and $19. With selling sto...

By Lauren Muskett • May 18, 2020

4 Behaviors That Empower CFOs to Lead With Compassion

While added stress of managing the impact of the current pandemic has hit all leaders and functions hard, the hardest hit may be chief financial officers and the departments they are leading through these highly dynamic times. With a majority of companies predicting a loss of revenue and profits,...

By John Touey • May 18, 2020

Morningstar Settles Conflict of Interest Charges

Morningstar Credit Ratings has agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission that it violated conflict of interest rules when its head of business development instructed analysts to identify business targets and pursue them through, among other things, o...

By Lauren Muskett • May 15, 2020

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending May 15

Charlie Pavlounis CBS News finance chief Charlie Pavlounis is leaving the company. Pavlounis joined the news organization as CFO in 2015 from CBS Corporation, where he was senior vice president and chief audit executive. Before joining CBS, he held a variety of positions in corporate compliance a...

By Lauren Muskett • May 15, 2020

Households’ Money Problems Started Back in March

Since consumer spending drives so much of the U.S. economy, a worsening of family finances can be the canary in the coal mine for many industries.The Federal Reserve on Thursday released its regular survey of U.S. households’ economic well-being. While most of the data (concerning 2019) was irrel...

By Vincent Ryan • May 14, 2020

SEC Charges Two Companies Over Misleading COVID-19 Claims

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against Applied BioSciences and Turbo Global Partners as well as Turbo Global’s Chief Executive Officer, Robert Singerman, over misleading claims related to COVID-19.The complaint against Turbo and Singerman, filed in federal court in the M...

By Lauren Muskett • May 14, 2020

Intelsat Files for Bankruptcy

Intelsat SA has filed for bankruptcy protection and obtained a commitment of $1 billion in debtor-in-possession financing to help it participate in an upcoming federal airwave auction in December.The satellite operator, which is saddled with a debt of $14.5 billion, is turning to financial restru...

By Lauren Muskett • May 14, 2020