Oracle to Buy Cerner in $28B Health Care Play

In its largest deal ever, Oracle will acquire electronic medical records company Cerner for $28.3 billion to accelerate its push into health care.Oracle’s move comes seven months after cloud-computing rival Microsoft agreed to pay $19.7 billion for Nuance Communications, a provider in voice-recog...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 20, 2021

U.S. Cracks Down on Chinese Tech Firms

DJI drones The Biden administration has slapped an investment ban on eight Chinese tech companies, citing their support for Beijing’s repression of the Uyghur minority.The latest additions to a list of firms designated as owned or controlled by the Chinese military includes DJI, which is the larg...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 17, 2021

Explore the Trendline➔

Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

Reddit Eyeing IPO at Valuation of $15B

After several successful rounds of private funding that have brought its valuation to $10 billion, Reddit is testing the IPO waters.The social media platform known as the internet’s town hall said it confidentially filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial pu...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 17, 2021

Fed Shifts Toward Rate Hikes Next Year

The U.S. Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday it is preparing to raise interest rates as it shifts toward easing inflationary pressures in the economy.After a two-day meeting, the Fed’s policy-making committee said the central bank was “committed to using its full range of tools to support the U.S....

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 16, 2021

M&A Is Better in Small Gulps

Mergers and acquisitions are back in a big way. Through the first nine months of 2021, the value of global M&A reached almost $4.3 trillion — comfortably more than the full-year $4 trillion in 2015. The third quarter was robust ($1.4 trillion), with corporate transactions (3,500 deals worth m...

By Andy West • Dec. 16, 2021

Symbotic to Go Public in $5.5B SPAC Deal

Robotics maker Symbotic said Monday it will go public through a merger with a SPAC sponsored by SoftBank to accelerate its push into warehouse automation.Symbotic makes AI-powered mobile robots that are already being used in the warehouses of major retailers, grocers and wholesalers, including Wa...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 13, 2021

U.S. Inflation Leaps 6.8% in November

U.S. inflation rose at the fastest rate in nearly 40 years in November, providing further evidence of the pandemic’s disruptive effects on supply and demand.The Labor Department reported Friday that the consumer price index (CPI) jumped 6.8% last month from a year ago, the biggest gain since 1982...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 10, 2021

7 Keys to Communicating an M&A Deal Effectively

Just when you think that merger and acquisition transaction numbers can’t get any higher, they keep breaking records. Fueled by near-zero interest rates, monetary stimulus, and investor demand for corporate debt, M&A showed the highest level of activity over the past nine months than at any t...

By Moira Conlon • Dec. 9, 2021

What to Do When a Key Supplier Is in Trouble

The spread of the coronavirus in 2020 caused lockdowns of businesses and schools and shutdowns of industries worldwide. Throw worker shortages, dwindling supplies of raw materials, surging prices, and other complications into the mix, and it’s no surprise that some U.S. manufacturers are hurting....

By David G. Dragich • Dec. 8, 2021

Biden Orders Federal Carbon-Free Push

In a major push to advance his climate change agenda, President Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday to make the federal government carbon-neutral by 2050.The order requires the government to use 100% carbon pollution-free electricity in its buildings by 2030; that the U.S. fleet of cars ...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 8, 2021

Intel to Take Self-Driving Car Unit Public

Intel announced its Mobileye unit would go public in mid-2022 in a move to accelerate its turnaround effort amid investor enthusiasm for self-driving technology.The chip maker said Mobileye has been thriving since it acquired the Israeli firm for around $15 billion in 2017. Mobileye specializes i...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 7, 2021

How to Lower Total Payroll Costs: Metric of the Month

Everything seems to be getting more expensive. From wages and fuel costs to lumber prices, office paper, and essential grocery store items, very few areas of the economy have been spared from rising costs. Now is the time for a financial examination of all your business processes to determine if ...

By Perry D. Wiggins • Dec. 6, 2021

CFOs Expect Higher Costs May Last Through 2022

Most economists, Federal Reserve presidents, and business executives hoped to put inflation in the rearview mirror in 2022. However, they’re gradually realizing that won’t be the case.Finance chiefs knew it as early as November. According to results of the fourth-quarter CFO Survey released on Th...

By Vincent Ryan • Dec. 2, 2021

Grab Shares Slump After Mega-SPAC Merger

Grab delivery drivers in Bangkok After completing a record-setting SPAC merger, ride-hailing and delivery app Grab made its trading debut on Thursday, offering investors an opportunity to bet on the Southeast Asian tech boom.Shares in Southeast Asia’s leading “super-app” opened at $13.06, up 19% ...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 2, 2021

Inflation Surge Adds to Pressure on Fed

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation jumped in October to its highest level in nearly 32 years, increasing pressure on the central bank to tweak monetary policy.The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that personal consumption expenditures prices excluding food and energy ...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 24, 2021

CFOs Battle Margin Pressures and Production Delays

Robert Hartwig, University of South Carolina Profits are slimmer for businesses beset by a combination of stalled supply chains and higher commodity prices. Delays in production schedules caused by idled container ships off ports in California, combined with rising commodities prices, are dampeni...

By Russ Banham • Nov. 24, 2021

Authentic Brands Stays Private With PE Deal

Authentic Brands Group has shelved its plans for an initial public offering in favor of a deal with two private-equity firms that values the brand developer at $12.7 billion.CVC Capital Partners and HPS Investment Partners will acquire “significant” equity stakes in the company from certain exist...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 22, 2021

Experts React to Fed Chair Powell’s Renomination

President Joe Biden announced Monday he will be renominating Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for a second term as Fed chair and will nominate Fed Governor Lael Brainard as vice-chair.Biden was widely expected to nominate either Powell or Brainard for the position of Fed chair. Powell was init...

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 22, 2021

Build Back Better Would Raise Deficit, CBO Says

With the House nearing a vote on President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill, the Congressional Budget Office has projected the measure would add a net $367 billion to the national debt over the next decade.USA Today said the CBO’s projection “undercuts Biden’s long-standing pledge the bill is n...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 19, 2021

ESG: The Financial Reporting Implications

In a KPMG survey of 3,300 financial professionals, more than half of respondents indicated climate change-related financial disclosures were an opportunity to demonstrate their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) edge to employees and investors while distancing themselves from competitors...

By Scott Flynn • Nov. 17, 2021

CFO Appointed to FASB’s Private Company Council

The board of trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) on Tuesday announced the reappointment of Marsha L. Hunt to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) as well as naming the finance chief of a family-owned business to a three-year term on the Private Company Council.The CFO...

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 16, 2021

Dispelling the Myths About CPM Implementations

This is the second of two columns on corporate performance management tools. The first article, The ABCs of CPM Software, was published on November 10.Myths and misinformation about corporate performance management systems and their use in finance departments abound. Many revolve around these too...

By Mike Cochran • Nov. 15, 2021

Record 4.4 Million Quit Jobs in September

The number of Americans who quit their jobs hit a record high in September, continuing a historic turnover that shows no signs of abating before the holiday season.The Labor Department reported that quits, or the number of jobs that workers left voluntarily, totaled a record 4.4 million in Septem...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 15, 2021

Wynn SPAC Deal Called Off: Is A Buyout Coming?

Two recent developments at Wynn Resorts could signal a buyout coming.On Friday morning, Wynn Resorts announced it was terminating a previously announced special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger for Wynn Interactive with Austerlitz Acquisition.The deal was going to bring Wynn Interactive,...

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 12, 2021

Toshiba Goes GE With Three-Way Split

Three days after General Electric said it was splitting into three, scandal-plagued Toshiba announced a similar move that will dismantle the Japanese industrial giant.Toshiba’s plan, unveiled on Friday, would split the company into three businesses focused on infrastructure, semiconductors, and d...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 12, 2021