Human Capital’s Big Reveal

This is one genie that’s not going to be stuffed back into its bottle.A climate ripe for extensive disclosure of human capital data is blanketing the corporate world, with European companies taking the initial lead. The United States has been lagging well behind, but in August the Securities and ...

By David McCann • Sept. 11, 2019

Uber to Cut 435 Jobs as Streamlining Continues

Uber has announced more layoffs that will reduce its product and engineering groups by about 8% as it seeks to streamline its workforce.The ride-sharing company said the decision to cut 435 jobs — 170 in the product team and 265 in the engineering team — was “incredibly difficult” but “will resul...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 11, 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

The CFO as Lead Performer

CFOs are collaborating with other functional areas in their companies as their role expands enterprise-wide. Increasingly, senior executives within the finance function are contributing data, analysis, strategy, and insights that improve efficiency, effectiveness, and company performance.A recent...

By Gerry Marletta • Sept. 11, 2019

Buyers of Carve-Outs Encounter Integration Hurdles

The stats have a story to tell private equity firms and their portfolio company CFOs.According to Deloitte’s 2019 M&A Trends Report,76% of M&A executives at US corporations and 87% of M&A leaders at PE firms expect the number of deals their organizations will close to increase. Closin...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 10, 2019

Stewart Information Services and Fidelity National Financial Terminate Merger

Fidelity National Financial announced plans on Tuesday to pay $50 million to Stewart Information Services to terminate the merger of the two companies after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenged the merger.Last week, the FTC issued an administrative complaint seeking to block insurance pr...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 10, 2019

Moody’s Deals a Blow to Ford With Credit Downgrade

Ford Motor shares were down about 3% early Tuesday afternoon, following a late-Monday downgrade of its debt to junk status by Moody’s Investors Service.While the auto industry has recently been generally healthy, Ford is an exception. Moody’s projects that the company’s EBITDA margin will fall th...

By David McCann • Sept. 10, 2019

McDonald’s Buys AI Company to Automate Drive-Thru Ordering

McDonald’s reached an agreement to buy artificial intelligence company Apprente, a Silicon Valley start-up specializing in voice-based ordering technology. The technology can understand multiple languages and accents to help speed and simplify order taking at the drive-thru.“Building our technolo...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 10, 2019

8 Trends Are Putting AI Into Clearer View

Is artificial intelligence finally starting to take on a recognizable shape, after its history of being sometimes overhyped, often misunderstood, and always intriguing (but in a tantalizingly futuristic sort of way)?Perhaps so, judging by a new report from KPMG. To better understand the state of ...

By David McCann • Sept. 10, 2019

Fred’s to Close All Stores in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Liquidation

Fred’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday and will close all of its remaining 80 discount stores and pharmacies over the next 60 days. The discount retailer and pharmacy’s attempt at cost cutting measures didn’t work, and continued to report yearly losses since 2015.In early February, the ...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 9, 2019

Fitch Cuts Hong Kong Credit Rating

The credit ratings agency Fitch cut its rating for Hong Kong to “AA” from “AA+,” with a negative outlook, citing months of political protest and the Chinese territory’s growing integration with the mainland.“Months of persistent conflict and violence are testing the perimeters and pliability of t...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 6, 2019

Business Executives’ Optimism in U.S. Economy Lowest in Three Years

Business executives hold their dimmest view of the U.S. economy in three years, due in part to widespread concerns about trade and fears of a sustained global slowdown, according to the third-quarter AICPA Economic Outlook Survey.The survey found almost 42% of business executives expressed optimi...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 6, 2019

Antitrust Review: Navigating the Challenges of a ‘Second Request’

Successful executives understand that closing a merger deal in a concentrated market can be highly complex. The added complication in these deals is their potential to receive an additional antitrust inquiry for information, called a “second request.” In the United States, this kind of inquiry le...

By Jennifer Pitts and Mark Crumrine • Sept. 6, 2019

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending September 6

Adam Orvos Another Neiman Marcus CFO is stepping down. After 18 months in the role, Adam Orvos is leaving the retailer on Oct. 11 to join another company. Orvos arrived in April 2018 to take over for Dale Stapleton who had been serving as interim CFO since June 2017. Stapleton stepped into the ro...

By Joan Urdang • Sept. 6, 2019

Stripe Moves Into Small Business Lending

Private payment company Stripe Capital on Thursday announced it’s taking a step into the lending business.Stripe said the next stage of its growth phase will involve providing financing for online companies.Stripe said its lending process will be quick and easy, and funds can be distributed to a ...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 5, 2019

Prudential to Buy Insurance Tech Startup for $2.35B

Prudential Financial agreed to acquire three-year-old direct-to-consumer insurance platform Assurance IQ for $2.35 billion, the companies said.Prudential said the acquisition would be modestly accretive to earnings per share and return on equity starting in 2020. It would generate cost savings of...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 5, 2019

Motorola Solutions Receives a New $1B Investment from Silver Lake

Global technology investment company Silver Lake is making a new $1 billion investment in public safety and security firm Motorola Solutions. Silver Lake will also settle Motorola Solutions’ outstanding $800 million aggregate principal investment one year ahead of its maturity.Under the terms of ...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 5, 2019

Search Engine for Consumer Finance Nabs Funding

Even Financial, a fintech company that acts as a recommendation provider for personal finance websites, announced a $25.5 million funding round on Wednesday.The round was co-led by Citi Ventures, the venture arm of Citigroup C 1.37%, and MassMutual Ventures. LendingClub LC 2.08% also participated...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 4, 2019

WeWork to Add First Woman Board Member

The We Company, owner of office-sharing startup WeWork, named Frances Frei as the first woman member of its board of directors amid investor criticism as it pursues an initial public offering. Frei will join the board once it completes its IPO, planned for later this month.Frei, a professor of te...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 4, 2019

YouTube to Pay $170M Fine After Violating Children’s Privacy Law

Google’s subsidiary YouTube will pay a record $170 million settlement over allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General that the company illegally collected personal information from children without the consent of their parents and then used the data to target th...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 4, 2019

SmileDirectClub Files For IPO

The direct-to-consumer teeth-straightening service SmileDirectClub has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering.The Nashville, Tenn.-based company is seeking to raise up to $1.29 billion and list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “SDC.”The...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 3, 2019

Tyson to Buy Stake in Brazilian Poultry Producer

Tyson Foods has reached an agreement to acquire a 40% stake in Brazilian poultry producer Grupo Vibra. The companies did not disclose the price.“This investment will enable us to access poultry supplies in Brazil to meet the growing needs of Brazilian customers and of priority demand markets in A...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 30, 2019

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending August 30

Mark George Transportation firm Norfolk Southern has announced that Mark George will take over the top finance spot on November 1. He replaces Cynthia Earhart, who will retire the same day. George joins the company from United Technologies, where he most recently was CFO and vice president, finan...

By Joan Urdang • Aug. 30, 2019

Goldman, Point72 Invest $42 Million in Mexican Fintech

A group led Goldman Sachs and Point72 Ventures has invested $42 million in Mexico-based fintech company Credijusto, which makes asset-backed loans and leases equipment to small and medium-sized enterprises.Credijusto said proceeds from the Series B financing will be used to launch new products an...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 29, 2019

BP to Sell Alaska Assets to Hilcorp for $5.6B

U.K. oil giant BP has reached an agreement to sell its Alaskan assets to Hilcorp Energy for $5.6 billion.Under the terms of the agreement, BP will receive an initial $4 billion payment and $1.6 billion in earnout payments over time.BP has operated in Alaska for 60 years, holding interests in the ...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 28, 2019

RSM Charged by SEC with Violating Auditor Independence Rules

Accounting firm RSM US probably thought it had good controls for detecting if it was unknowingly providing prohibited services to an audit client or an affiliate of an audit client.After all, it had a domestic U.S. database (“Client Central”) that auditors and consultants could search to find all...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 27, 2019