Taiwanese Chipmaker Facing Pressure to Produce Chips in U.S.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC), one of the world’s top contract chipmakers, is under mounting pressure from the Trump administration to make chips in the United States, sources told the Nikkei Asian Review.Military-grade chips made by TSMC, which is a key supplier to te...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 16, 2020

Why Some of Today’s Corporate Powerhouses May Not Survive

This article is part of an 11-part series titled “Tesla, Elon Musk, and the EV Revolution” by investment manager Vitaliy Katsenelson, who gave CFO the right to publish this segment. You can order the full Tesla analysis here.Today, electronic vehicle sales account for a tiny rounding error of tot...

By David McCann • Jan. 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 Dealt With a Record Number of Activist Investors in 2019

Across the globe, a record 147 investors (up from 131 in 2018) launched new activist campaigns in 2019, including 43 “first-timers” with no prior activism history, according to Lazard’s annual shareholder activism review.Those activists targeted 187 global companies, down 17% from 2018’s record b...

By Vincent Ryan • Jan. 15, 2020

Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand Sold to Joint Venture in $4.6B Deal

MGM Resorts International is selling Las Vegas properties MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay to a joint venture in a deal valuing the properties at $4.6 billion, the companies said.The joint venture includes investment firm Blackstone Group and real estate investment trust MGM Growth Properties.Under the...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 15, 2020

Workplace Class Actions: The Threat Keeps Growing

The prosecution of workplace class action litigation by the plaintiffs’ bar continues to escalate, as it has for more than a decade. Importantly, class actions increasingly pose unique “bet-the-company” risks for employers.As has become readily apparent in the #MeToo era, an adverse judgment in a...

By David McCann • Jan. 15, 2020

BlackRock CEO: Climate Change is Causing a ‘Fundamental Reshaping of Finance’

Global asset manager BlackRock said climate risk is compelling investors to reassess core assumptions about finance and pledged to change its investment strategy as a result.Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock “Climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects,” ...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 14, 2020

Casper Sleep Seeks to Wake up Wall Street

Casper Sleep has filed for an initial public offering in a bet that investors will be awake to the potential of its “holistic” sleep solutions even though it has never turned a profit.The bed-in-a-box pioneer said the growth of the “sleep economy” is accelerating as sleep becomes the “third pilla...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 13, 2020

U.S. Billion Dollar Weather Disasters Doubled in Last Decade

The United States saw 14 weather and climate disasters that caused financial losses of at least $1 billion last year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual U.S. climate assessment. 2019 was also the second-wettest year on record behind 1973.In total, the weathe...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 10, 2020

ECB Continues Assessing ‘Feasibility And Merits’ Of Digital Currencies

The European Central Bank (ECB) is sticking to its guns on playing “an active role” in the digital currency field, said ECB’s President Christine Lagarde on Wednesday.What HappenedThe ECB will continue assessing the risks and benefits of issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), said Lagard...

By Vincent Ryan • Jan. 9, 2020

GrubHub May Be Considering a Sale

Delivery company GrubHub might be exploring a sale after bringing in advisers to explore strategic options as online delivery competition heats up, The Wall Street Journal reported. Shares of the company surged 13% Wednesday after the report of the possible sale.According to the Journal story, Gr...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 9, 2020

Coupa Software Buys Travel Software Company Yapta

Coupa Software, a company that helps businesses track their spending, has acquired corporate travel price optimization startup Yapta. The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.Seattle-based Yapta has helped companies cut their corporate travel budgets 2% to 4% on average, sav...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 7, 2020

Gannett CFO to Leave at End of First Quarter

Alison “Ali” Engel USA Today parent Gannett said that Alison “Ali” Engel is stepping down as chief financial officer at the end of the first quarter to pursue other opportunities.“I greatly enjoyed my time at Gannett and wish the company nothing but success in the future,” said Engel.Gannett’s bo...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 6, 2020

Bed Bath & Beyond Completes Sale-Leaseback

Bed Bath & Beyond said Monday it had completed a $250 million sale-leaseback deal with a private equity firm in a move to generate cash for its turnaround effort.The struggling home-goods retailer said it had sold about approximately 2.1 million square feet of commercial space to an affiliate...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 6, 2020

Yum Brands to Buy Habit Burger Grill

Yum Brands has agreed to acquire The Habit Restaurants, parent company of Habit Burger Grill, for $14 per share, or about $375 million, the companies said.Yum is the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut. This would be the first fast-casual chain in its portfolio and the first deal sinc...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 6, 2020

Travelex Services Shut Down by Malware Attack

Travelex said it had taken down its site to contain a malware attack that began New Year’s Eve.The international foreign currency exchange said it took systems offline “as a precautionary measure in order to protect data” and to stop the spread of the attack. There is no timeline for when the Tra...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 3, 2020

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending January 3

Michael Wallace Spok Holdings announced that chief financial officer Michael Wallace has been appointed chief operating officer. Wallace, who joined the healthcare communications company as CFO in March 2017, will maintain his CFO responsibilities. Wallace joined the company from Intermedix where...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 3, 2020

SEC Planning to Loosen Auditor Independence Rules

SEC Chair Jay Clayton Auditor independence rules appear to be headed in opposite directions in the United States and the United Kingdom.At a time when auditors in the U.K. are still under fire for the meltdown of  Carillion, U.S. auditors may be getting a break on some of the rules governing impa...

By Vincent Ryan • Jan. 2, 2020

TiVo Shuffles CFOs Amid Xperi Merger

TiVo has named Wesley Gutierrez as its chief financial officer, effective December 30, 2019, replacing Peter Halt who was terminated from that role the same day.In a securities filing, TiVo said Halt’s termination was “unrelated to TiVo’s financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures....

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 2, 2020

Total Cost to Perform the Finance Function: Metric of the Month

The beginning of a year is a great time to evaluate the effectiveness of the finance function and the role it plays in helping drive a company’s success. This month’s metric — total cost to perform the finance function as a percentage of revenue — is part of a set of finance process key performan...

By Perry D. Wiggins • Jan. 2, 2020

CFO Departures 2019

Record numbers of chief executives left their jobs in 2019. Turnover in the CFO chair was just as prevalent. The following were some of the more notable CFO departures last year.January 2019Deepak Ahuja retired as CFO of Tesla, two years after rejoining the automaker. Vice President of Finance Za...

By Vincent Ryan • Jan. 1, 2020

Google Fined for Market Abuse Over Ad Platform

The French Competition Authority (FCA) has fined Google $167 million (€150 million), saying the tech giant abused its dominant position in the online search advertising market.In a statement, the French regulator said Google Ads mistreated buyers and the methods used by its ad platform are “opaqu...

By Lauren Muskett • Dec. 20, 2019

EY Partner Named New FASB Chair

The board of trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) announced on Thursday that it had appointed Richard R. Jones as the next chair of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).Jones is chief accountant and a partner at Ernst & Young LLP (EY), having spent his entire caree...

By Vincent Ryan • Dec. 20, 2019

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending December 20

Will Graves Media agency Mindshare named Will Graves finance chief for North America. Graves joins the agency from media and digital marketing communications company Dentsu Aegis Network, where he served as EVP. Prior to that, he was the chief financial officer for Vizeum. Graves replaces Joe Sca...

By Lauren Muskett • Dec. 20, 2019

IAC and Match Group to Separate

Media and internet company IAC will spin off all of its shares of online dating company Match Group. Match Group owns Match.com, Tinder, Hinge, and OKCupid.Under the terms of the deal, Match shareholders would receive one share of New Match and $3 per share in consideration. IAC shareholders woul...

By Lauren Muskett • Dec. 19, 2019

MetLife Fined $10M Over Annuity Accounting

MetLife has agreed to pay $10 million to settle allegations of deficiencies in its accounting for reserves associated with its annuities business.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the insurer failed to maintain a sufficient system of internal accounting controls, resulting in both ...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 19, 2019