Rivian to Raise $11.9B From Mega-IPO

Rivian priced its IPO well above expectations at $78 per share on Tuesday, setting the stage for a big Wall Street debut amid investor enthusiasm for the electric vehicle industry.The offering of about 20.7 million shares was expected to raise $11.9 billion and value Rivian, if underwriters exerc...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 10, 2021

Experts React to 6.2% Rise in the CPI

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust traded higher by 0.3% on Wednesday morning after the Labor Department reported a 6.2% increase in the consumer price index in the month of October, the fastest inflation growth since late 1990.The headline CPI for October exceeded economists’ estimates of 5.9% and m...

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 10, 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

Panera Returning to Public Market With IPO

Panera is returning to the public markets with a future IPO that will include an investment from a restaurant-themed special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC).The SPAC, USHG Acquisition (HUGS), announced Tuesday it will be a “cornerstone partner” for an IPO of Panera Brands.Panera Brands will pu...

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 9, 2021

GE to Split Into Three Public Companies

In a historic move that will dismantle what was once the world’s largest company by market size, General Electric announced Tuesday it will split up into three separate businesses.Under Larry Culp, who took over as chief executive three years ago, GE had already been putting the brakes on predece...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 9, 2021

McAfee Acquired by Investor Group in $14B Deal

McAfee is being acquired by a six-entity investor group in a $14 billion deal that will take the company private.What Happened: The buyer entity in the transaction, Condor BidCo, will acquire all outstanding shares of the cybersecurity company’s common stock for $26 per share in an all-cash trans...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 8, 2021

Jobs Market Storms Back With 531,000 Gain

The U.S. jobs market roared back in October from a late-summer lull, easing concerns about the resiliency of the pandemic recovery amid the surge of the delta variant and labor shortages.Since adding more than a million jobs in July, the labor market had slowed sharply through the rest of the sum...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 5, 2021

Exxon Warns Assets at Risk From Climate Change

Exxon Mobil has indicated for the first time that it may have to write down the value of assets due to the effects of climate change risks on demand for fossil fuels.The nation’s largest oil company said that as part of its annual business planning process, it now evaluates climate change as a bu...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 4, 2021

Ford to Repurchase $5B in High-Yield Bonds

Ford Motor said Thursday it would buy back up to $5 billion of its high-yield junk bonds as it restructures its balance sheet to pay for vehicle electrification and other sustainable projects.Ford shares rose 4.2% to $19.42 on news of the repurchase, which includes much of the $8 billion in bonds...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 4, 2021

Allbirds Soars 93% in Stock Market Debut

Shares in Allbirds surged Wednesday after an IPO that indicated investors are receptive to its vision of sustainable footwear for eco-conscious consumers.Allbirds raised about $303 million in Tuesday’s initial offering, which was priced at $15 per share, above the expected range of $12 to $14 per...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 3, 2021

Yahoo Pulls out of China After 22 Years

Yahoo said Tuesday it is pulling out of the Chinese market amid a crackdown on foreign tech firms that has increased the risks of operating in China.Yahoo’s move comes less than a month after Microsoft shut down its LinkedIn social-networking site in response to Beijing’s tightening control of th...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 2, 2021

November SPAC Calendar: Upcoming Votes

November shows a continued slowdown in special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger deal votes, but the calendar includes several multibillion-dollar deals.SPAC merger votes can act as a catalyst, as the votes complete the last step in the merger process and change the company over to a new ...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 2, 2021

Dell Spins Off VMware

Dell Technologies will shed its 81% stake in VMware this week, creating an independent software company with a stock market value of $64 billion, Financial Times reports.The separation from Dell will free VMWare from Dell’s focus on corporate data centers and give it more freedom to invest and ma...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 1, 2021

Coke Buys Full Control of Bodyarmor for $5.6B

Coca-Cola said Monday it had acquired full ownership of sports drink brand Bodyarmor for $5.6 billion, positioning itself to compete for market dominance with Gatorade.The acquisition is Coke’s largest to date for a brand, topping its purchase of Costa Coffee for $5.1 billion in 2018. The company...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 1, 2021

Labor Costs Gauge Surges 1.3% in Q3

The cost of employing the average U.S. worker rose in the third quarter by the most since 2001, underscoring the impact of labor shortages resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.The Labor Department reported Friday that its employment cost index (ECI), a broad gauge of wages and benefits, increa...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 29, 2021

U.S. GDP Growth Slows to 2% in 3rd Quarter

The U.S. economy grew in the third quarter at the slowest rate since the pandemic recovery began in the spring, reflecting the impact of the delta variant and supply-chain constraints.The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product rose at a 2.0% annualized pace in the third...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 28, 2021

China Urges Repayment of Offshore Debt

Chinese regulators have urged corporate offshore bond issuers to “actively prepare” to pay off their debt amid concerns over defaults by property developers.At a symposium on Tuesday, the National Development and Reform Commission, which oversees offshore bonds, said it would smooth the way for b...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 27, 2021

Building a Case for Macy’s and Just Eat Takeaway’s Spinoffs

Activist investors targeted both Macy’s and Just Eat Takeaway N.V. this October. The investor proposals strongly suggested each company should execute a spinoff: in the case of Macy’s, its e-commerce unit; for Just Eat Takeaway, its newly acquired U.S. operation, Grubhub.The reasons were differen...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 26, 2021

Startups Need a Grasp of U.S. Trade Controls

Do you know there are trade laws that restrict who you can do business with and who can have access to your technology – even if it is in the United States? That’s why every startup needs a basic understanding of U.S. trade controls. Ignoring these rules can limit investment and restrict growth, ...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 21, 2021

Could a Run on Stablecoins Disrupt the Commercial Paper Market?

Stablecoins that approach a systemically important scale could come to play an important role in short-term securities markets such as commercial paper, while bringing new risks to these markets, according to a report by Fitch Ratings released on Monday.“The [U.S.-dollar denominated] reserves tha...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 19, 2021

Crypto Exchange Bakkt Begins Trading on NYSE

Shares of institutional crypto exchange Bakkt Holdings have begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange.What Happened: Bakkt is a digital asset exchange and custodian owned by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the NYSE. On Friday, the company announced that it would be going...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 18, 2021

Unfilled Job Openings Are Stinging Small Businesses

Any hope that U.S. small businesses would begin to see a pre-autumn turnaround in their economic fortunes was dashed on Tuesday with the release of the NFIB’s Small Business Optimism Index.The optimism index, a popular measure of small business owner sentiment, fell only 1 point for September, to...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 18, 2021

Labor Shortage and Supply Disruptions Weighed on CFOs in Q3

Optimism about the U.S. economy is fading as concerns over labor availability and supply chain disruptions rise, according to a survey of U.S. finance chiefs. The CFO Survey, a collaboration of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond and Atlanta (forme...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 14, 2021

A ‘Glut’ of High-Growth Companies Is Driving An IPO Market Reset

Unicorn companies have evolved from a rare occurrence to the new normal over the last decade. This has had a ripple effect on the capital markets, initially resulting in a lull in the IPO market as companies chose to stay private longer. This pipeline of private companies became filled with a sta...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 13, 2021

Stimulus Programs, Lender Generosity Keeping Bankruptcies at Bay

The pace of bankruptcy filings in 2021 is at 10-year lows, as federal stimulus money and lender forbearance efforts keep financially strapped businesses from heading to the courts to restructure their debts.According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, commercial bankruptcy filings during the f...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 12, 2021

Overhauling the Finance Department for the Future

Years ago, emerging technologies and digital transformation were disrupting the world as we knew it. Now, the pandemic has strengthened and accelerated these forces — quickly reshaping what it means to operate a successful finance organization.A new report from Deloitte looks to the year 2025 — s...

By Mike Danitz • Oct. 12, 2021