J.Crew’s Madewell Brand Files for IPO

Madewell, J.Crew’s fast-growing denim brand, plans to spit from its parent company and go public.The company said Chinos Holdings, its subsidiary, will be renamed Madewell Group and plans to list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ, a securities filing showed. The company has not r...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 20, 2019

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending September 20

Rahul Ghai Rahul Ghai has been appointed to lead the finance function at Otis Elevator. He previously was CFO of Harris. Prior to Harris, he served in executive-level finance roles at Aetna and United Technologies.Luis Borgen has been named finance chief at athenahealth. He formerly headed financ...

By Joan Urdang • Sept. 20, 2019

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

‘Shadow Banking’ Saddled With Undeserved Poor Image

The prolonged bull market shows worrisome signs of reversal, and many economists fear a looming recession amid a fragile global economic system beset by trade wars, currency imbalances, and negative interest rates. Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury is projected to borrow a record $1.4 trillion in 2019...

By David McCann • Sept. 19, 2019

SEC Charges ICO Incubator Over Unregistered Offerings

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against ICOBox, an incubator of initial coin offerings, and its founder Nikolay Evdokimov for allegedly violating the registration requirements of federal securities laws.Regulators said ICOBox conducted a securities offering of its own dig...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 19, 2019

U.K. Government to Probe $5B Cobham Takeover

U.K. business secretary Andrea Leadsom ordered an investigation of the takeover of defense company Cobham by Advent International, a Boston-based private equity firm, two days after shareholders approved the deal. Leadsom issued a European intervention notice and called for the Competition and Ma...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 18, 2019

Regulators Double Down on Compliance Scrutiny

U.S. regulators are making one thing crystal clear to companies — or at least to companies that are paying attention: There are no longer any excuses for not having an effective and comprehensive compliance policy and program.The government’s stance is sweeping, and it showed up in three recent m...

By David McCann • Sept. 18, 2019

Fanatics Hires Nike Exec Mich Chandlee as CFO

Online sports apparel retailer Fanatics has turned to one of its suppliers for a new CFO, hiring long-time Nike executive Michener “Mich” Chandlee.The appointment of Chandlee, who succeeds Lauren Cooks Levitan, comes as Fanatics prepares to sell NFL and Major League Baseball fan gear through a 10...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 18, 2019

SEC Fines Marvell Over ‘Pull-In’ Scheme

Marvell Technology Group agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle charges it orchestrated a ‘pull-in’ scheme to meet publicly-issued revenue guidance and misled investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement.According to the regulators, Marvell accelerated sales to the current ...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 17, 2019

WeWork Delays its IPO

The We Company, owner of the office-sharing startup WeWork, is delaying its IPO as investor confidence grows shaky. The company’s IPO was expected this month, but has now been pushed to at least October. One source says it could be scrapped entirely.“The We Company is looking forward to our upcom...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 17, 2019

Endeavor Sets IPO Price, Seeks to Raise $600M

Hollywood powerhouse Endeavor Group has disclosed that it is seeking to raise more than $600 million from the first initial public offering by a talent agency.The parent of William Morris Endeavor, Hollywood’s largest talent agency, said in an amended prospectus that it will sell 19,354,839 share...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 16, 2019

Cloudflare Shares Jump 20% in Market Debut

Cloudflare has become the latest enterprise IT company to make a splash on its Wall Street debut after raising about $525 million in its initial public offering.Shares in Cloudflare, which provides security, content delivery and other services to web and internet businesses, closed at $18 on the ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 16, 2019

Purdue Pharma Files for Bankruptcy Protection

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to settle massive U.S. opioid lawsuits, while providing more than $10 billion to address the current opioid crises.Purdue Pharma’s board approved the long-expected bankruptcy filing to resolve more than 2,600 lawsuits with...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 16, 2019

Oil Prices Spike After Saudi Attacks

Attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure sent the price of Brent crude surging by more than $12 a barrel, the biggest increase in more than 30 years and fueling fears for the global economy. (Brent crude was trading at $68.97 at 2:20 p.m. Eastern time.)“It is the biggest shock to the oil mark...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 16, 2019

WeWork Valuation Could Fall as Low as $10B in IPO

The We Company, owner of the office-sharing startup WeWork, may seek an initial public offering valuing it as low as $10 billion to $12 billion, down from the $47 billion it got in its last private fundraising round in January.Investors were initially skeptical of the WeWork IPO after founder and...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 13, 2019

The European Central Bank Cuts Rates, Relaunches Bond Purchases

The European Central Bank announced it was cutting its main deposit rate to -0.5% and beginning a massive bond-buying program as part of a sweeping stimulus package.The 10-basis-point cut brings the deposit rate (the interest banks receive for depositing money with the central bank overnight) to ...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 13, 2019

Is Data Security Risk Crowding Out Other Priorities?

It may be difficult to judge whether contemporary CFOs’ tight focus on data privacy and security is a value-add or a strictly defensive posture that limits their engagement in value-add activities. Either way, study after study shows that among the multitude of concerns finance chiefs must grappl...

By David McCann • Sept. 13, 2019

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending September 13

John Greene Discover Financial Services named John Greene finance chief, executive vice president, and a member of the company’s executive committee starting Sept. 18. Greene has more than 30 years of experience leading financial operations. He most recently served as CFO at Bioverativ, a global ...

By Joan Urdang • Sept. 13, 2019

M&A Risks: Buyers Beware

In 2018 the value of mergers and acquisitions worldwide was a cool $3.9 trillion, according to the Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions, and Alliances. Companies very much like to make deals, which ideally provide strategic synergies, operating efficiencies, and a fast path to growth.Yet it’s equa...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 13, 2019

Back to School: The Quiz

At a time in their career when veteran finance chiefs are huddling with their CEOs on strategy, wooing institutional investors, and finding new markets, do their technical skills remain rust-free? Is their basic finance knowledge still accessible at a finger snap? The Corporate Finance Institute ...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 13, 2019

Alta Mesa Resources Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Startup shale oil producer Alta Mesa Resources has filed bankruptcy less than two years after its formation, citing depressed oil prices and liquidity constraints resulting from “aggressive growth.”Alta Mesa’s share price has declined from a 52-week high of $4.83 per share a year ago to 7.7 cents...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 12, 2019

145 CEOs Urge for Action on Gun Violence

The chief executives of 145 companies have signed a letter calling on Senate lawmakers to pass legislation to curb gun violence, citing a series of recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; Chicago; Newport News, Virginia; Brooklyn, New York; and other communities.The letter urges th...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 12, 2019

Yahoo Japan to Buy Online Fashion Giant Zozo for $3.7B

Yahoo Japan, a subsidiary of tech and investment conglomerate Softbank Group, agreed to buy Zozo, Japan’s largest online fashion retailer, for $3.7 billion to help compete against Amazon and Rakuten. Zozo’s mall Zozotown controls about 50% of the market for mid- to high-end fashion.Zozo has recen...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 12, 2019

Easy Money? Private Capital’s Drawbacks

If money makes the world go ’round, Earth must be spinning like a top. Plentiful private capital from myriad sources has created an unprecedented supply of financing. Midmarket and smaller companies that have historically relied on a commercial bank loan or an initial public offering to fuel robu...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 12, 2019

Navigating Reference Rate Reform

Regulators, standard setters, financial institutions, and other industry participants around the world have been working on replacing the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) for several years. By the end of 2021, Libor is expected to be out and a new reference rate will be in. At first hearing,...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 12, 2019

Gig Worker Protection Bill Passes California Senate

The State Senate of California passed a bill that would require gig-economy workers to be reclassified as employees, making it harder for gig-economy companies to treat them as independent contractors.If passed, the legislation could have a transformative effect on companies such as Uber, Lyft, D...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 11, 2019