AT&T’s Three-Year Strategic Plan Appeases Activist Investor

Randall Stephenson, Chairman and CEO, AT&T AT&T announced a three-year strategic plan it says will significantly grow EBITDA margins and earnings per share, allow it to invest in growth areas, and pay down debt.Under the plan, the company said it would add two new board members, sell off ...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 28, 2019

Authentic Brands Declares Victory In Barneys Auction; Rivals Don’t Concede

Authentic Brands Group said late Thursday it had won the bidding for bankrupt luxury retailer Barneys New York. But rival bidders Sam Ben-Avraham and David Jackson say they are still in competition for the company, and Barneys maintained nothing is official.Ben-Avraham submitted a bid of $260 mil...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 25, 2019

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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

Fears Over Digitalization Efforts Top Execs’ Worry List

Concerns that digitalization efforts may be poorly conceived, as well as worries over the pace of such efforts, topped business leaders’ concerns in Gartner’s latest Emerging Risks Monitor Report.In Gartner’s third-quarter 2019 survey of 144 senior executives across industries and geographies, so...

By David McCann • Oct. 25, 2019

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending October 25

Julie Mathis Election technology company Hart InterCivic promoted Julie Mathis to president. Mathis will also remain in her current role as chief financial officer, which she has held since 2014. Mathis started her career as an auditor and then spent over 20 years at Dell, where she held successi...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 25, 2019

OCC Cannot Grant Special Bank Charters to Fintech Companies

A federal judge in New York ruled that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) did not have the authority to issue special bank charters to non-bank fintech companies.The decision is a victory for state financial regulators wanting to stop the fintech charter that allowed technology s...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 24, 2019

Annual Waste in U.S. Healthcare System Nears $1 Trillion

It’s not exactly a secret that there’s waste in the U.S. healthcare system. But just how much?How about roughly a quarter of all healthcare spending? So concludes a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The total estimated amount of waste amounts to between $760 ...

By David McCann • Oct. 22, 2019

Infosys Investigating CEO’s ‘Unethical Practices’

India’s second-largest IT services provider Infosys saw its shares drop by more than 12% on the New York Stock Exchange and 16% on the National Stock Exchange of India between Monday and Tuesday.According to Reuters, it was the worst intraday drop Infosys has seen in six years.What HappenedThe dr...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 22, 2019

PR Newswire Owner Cision to Be Acquired for $2.74B

PR and marketing software company and PR Newswire owner Cision has reached a deal to be bought by private-equity firm Platinum Equity for approximately $2.74 billion in cash, or $10.00 per share.The purchase price represents a 34% premium over its 60-day volume-weighted average price at the end o...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 22, 2019

Legacy Banks Are Threatened – Unless They Fight Back

This summer, online-only banks from Germany and the United Kingdom began operations in the United States, offering streamlined digital apps, simplified fees, and supposedly great customer service.Yet in reality, these neobanks are red herrings, deflecting American banks from the real challenges a...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 21, 2019

Coty Explores Sale of Professional Beauty Business

Beauty company Coty announced that is exploring the sale of its professional beauty business­ as part of its ongoing turnaround plan. The company’s professional beauty business includes hair and nail care brands such as OPI, Clariol, and Wella.The company also said it was exploring alternatives f...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 21, 2019

Banks Should Shun Aramco IPO, Says Environmental Groups

A coalition of environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, and Friends of the Earth has written to the chief executive officers of leading investment banks, urging them not to work on the initial public offering of Saudi Aramco.In a letter to the CEOs of Goldman Sac...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 18, 2019

How One Firm Found Order in the Chaotic World of Cryptocurrency Accounting

Given that cryptocurrency as a financial asset has existed for only about a decade, it may not be surprising to learn that formalization is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for traders who have embraced the industry.“The most difficult part in the entire market is that there is no standard,” s...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 18, 2019

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending October 18

Emily Weaver Industrial equipment manufacturer Gardner Denver named Emily Weaver senior vice president and chief financial officer starting Dec. 1. She succeeds Neil Snyder who is leaving the company “to pursue other opportunities.” Weaver is currently chief accounting officer at Fortive, and has...

By Joan Urdang • Oct. 18, 2019

SEC Names White House Aide to PCAOB

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed White House aide Rebekah Goshorn Jurata to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, replacing a member who had been seeking a second term.Kathleen Hamm, a cybersecurity expert, was appointed to the PCAOB in December 2017 to fill out ...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 17, 2019

Not All CFOs Can Handle M&A

Chief financial officers are an indispensable part of a company’s corporate structure, working to strategically increase profitability while ensuring that accounts are managed, taxes are filed, cash flow remains strong, and company leaders and investors are kept in the loop.Although the job of a ...

By Frank Williamson • Oct. 17, 2019

WH Smith to Buy Marshall Retail Group

U.K. retailer WH Smith made its second push into the U.S. airport retail space with a $400 million deal to buy travel retailer Marshall Retail Group.WH Smith, which sells books, travel accessories, and food, has been aggressively opening new shops at major airports worldwide.Marshall, which was b...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 17, 2019

Fintech Takes Root in America’s Farmland

Of all the asset classes that fintech has changed over the past decade, real estate is perhaps the most transformed. Technology’s impact on underwriting efficiency and the ability to crowdfund capital have changed the scope and scale of alternative investments that are available to investors.But ...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 16, 2019

Intel Buys Software Business Smart Edge

Intel agreed to buy software business Smart Edge from Pivot Technology Solutions for $27 million.Smart Edge, a software that helps split data and store it closer to users to make computing devices respond faster, was developed to run on Intel processors.The software can be used to complement 5G t...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 15, 2019

The View from Inside a Midsize M&A Deal

Considering some of the mammoth M&A transactions in recent years, a mere $1.2 billion acquisition doesn’t raise many eyebrows. But for Principal Financial Group, its purchase this year of Wells Fargo’s retirement and trust business was something of a game-changer.It was the third-largest acqu...

By David McCann • Oct. 15, 2019

SEC Pulls Plug on Telegram Initial Coin Offering

In what may be the highest-level U.S. enforcement action to date over an initial coin offering, the Securities and Exchange Commission has charged encrypted messaging app Telegram with illegally selling digital assets.Telegram launched its ICO last year by raising about $1.7 billion from sales of...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 14, 2019

Thoma Bravo Offers $3.9B for U.K. Cyber Firm Sophos

U.S. private equity firm Thoma Bravo made an offer to buy Sophos, the U.K.-based maker of antivirus and encryption products, for $7.40 in cash per share, a 37% premium on the Sophos market price at the end of trading Friday, the companies said.Sophos board of directors said they plan to unanimous...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 14, 2019

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending October 11

Jason Cardew has been promoted to lead the finance function at automotive technology company Lear, effective Nov. 1. Current finance chief Jeffrey Vanneste is retiring effective the previous day, but will serve as a consultant through February of next year. Cardew has been at the firm since 1992 ...

By Joan Urdang • Oct. 11, 2019

PE Firms Face Growing Scrutiny over Valuations

Recent attention from several quarters has cast a bright light on the private equity business. From accounting treatments to returns to political rumblings for industry overhaul, PE firms are facing scrutiny over their performance and practices.Beyond the headlines, private equity’s role across t...

By David McCann • Oct. 11, 2019

SAP CEO Steps Down

SAP said its chief executive officer, Bill McDermott, is stepping down and being replaced by board members Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein as co-CEOs, effective immediately.In a statement, the SAP said McDermott had decided not to renew his contract and it was activating its long-term success...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 11, 2019

CFTC Chairman Says Cryptocurrency Ether is a Commodity

Cryptocurrency ether is a commodity and thus falls under the jurisdiction the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said the commission’s chairman Heath Tarbert at a conference in New York. Tarbert also said ether futures will begin trading in U.S. markets in the near future.“We’ve been ve...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 10, 2019