Embattled Industries: Profiles in Resilience

Aimbridge Hospitality’s worst-case scenario in its planning for “black swan” events used to be 9/11. “Nobody traveled. Our revenues went down 17% to 22% the following two years. We built plans around that scenario,” recalls Judy Hendrick, CFO of the hotel management firm whose brands include Marr...

By Lauren Muskett • Dec. 2, 2020

Alibaba, JD, Pinduoduo’s U.S. Listing Fate Hangs in Balance

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on legislation on Wednesday that could force the delisting of Chinese stocks in the country if they don’t comply with audit regulations, reports the Wall Street Journal. The legislation would require a two-thirds majority for passage of the bill in...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 30, 2020

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

Unlocking Digital Value Creation

The pandemic put a spotlight on corporate digital strategy as a strategic survival tool, revealing many new strengths and weaknesses along the way. Now, we start to look past the immediate crisis response: How are corporate leaders leaning into digital to create new value in the new normal?While ...

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 25, 2020

IBM to Buy Software Company Instana

IBM has reached an agreement to buy application performance monitoring and observability company Instana.In a statement, the U.S. tech giant said the move would help it better manage modern applications that span the hybrid cloud landscape and strengthen its AI-powered automation capabilities.Fin...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 18, 2020

Walmart’s E-Commerce Surge Continues in Q3

Walmart beat quarterly earnings estimates as it continued to benefit from the shift to e-commerce accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic.For the third quarter, Walmart’s online sales rose 79%, slowing from the 97% jump in the previous quarter. Comparable stores sales, including those from digita...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 17, 2020

Amazon Opens Online Pharmacy

Amazon is launching an online pharmacy business that will allow customers to order prescription medications for home delivery.The online retail giant said its Amazon Pharmacy offering will allow patients to transfer prescriptions from existing retailers or have their doctors send documents direct...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 17, 2020

DraftKings Beats Estimates as Pro Sports Return

DraftKings almost doubled its quarterly revenue, a larger-than-expected gain that reflected in part the resumption of major professional sports, and raised its guidance for the full year.For the third quarter, the online gaming company reported revenue of $133 million, up 98% on a year ago. On an...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 16, 2020

Disney Loses $710M, Gets Boost From Streaming

Disneyland remains closed but Walt Disney Co. gave investors something to cheer about in its latest quarter as it lost less money than expected and its new streaming service reached more than 70 million subscribers.Disney shares rose 3.3% to $139.98 in extended trading Thursday even though the co...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 13, 2020

Former Kodak Execs Sold $5.1M in Stock Options They Didn’t Own

Eastman Kodak said a series of internal errors allowed five former executives to sell about $5.1 million in stock options they didn’t own.In an earnings call on Tuesday, chief financial officer David Bullwinkle said inadequate controls had failed to prevent the “unauthorized issuance” of the comp...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 12, 2020

Spotify to Buy Podcast Ad Platform Megaphone

Audio streaming service Spotify has reached a deal to buy the podcast publishing and advertising company Megaphone for $235 million.In a statement, Spotify said using Megaphone’s technology would make streaming ad insertion (SAI) available to third-party podcast publishers for the first time. The...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 11, 2020

Rocket Companies Revenue Up 163% in Record Q3

Rocket Companies reported third-quarter earnings after the close on Tuesday.Q3 Earnings: The parent company of Rocket Mortgage and Quicken Loans reported adjusted revenue of $4.74 billion for the third quarter, which was up 163% year-over-year and beat the $4.55 billion target from Wall Street an...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 11, 2020

GM Posts $4B Profit on Strong Truck, SUV Sales

General Motors crushed Wall Street earnings estimates as it returned to profitability amid strong demand for its high-margin full-sized pickups and SUVs.The largest U.S. automaker reported Thursday that net income rose 74% to $4 billion in the third quarter and adjusted earnings increased 65% to ...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 5, 2020

Bitcoin Spikes Above $15,000

The price of bitcoin surged above $15,000 on Thursday, its highest level since January 2018, as the U.S. waits on results from the presidential election.The price of the cryptocurrency, the world’s largest, is up more than 10% since Tuesday and has more than doubled year-to-date.Central banks fro...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 5, 2020

COVID-19 Vaccines Could Generate Over $10B Annual Revenue

A successful COVID-19 vaccine could be a bumper revenue opportunity for the pharmaceutical companies, with the market estimated to generate at least $10 billion in revenue a year, according to analysts.The Thesis: Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse analysts estimate that people will need the vaccin...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 5, 2020

Hyatt Loses $161M as Travel Slump Continues

Hyatt Hotels mounted a partial rebound from the coronavirus-fueled collapse in demand but still posted a larger-than-expected quarterly loss.For the third quarter, the luxury hotel giant reported Wednesday a net loss of $161 million, or $1.59 per share, after losing $236 million in the previous q...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 5, 2020

Oregon Becomes First U.S. State to Decriminalize Drug Possession

Voters in Oregon have approved two measures that mark an unprecedented change in the history of U.S. drug policy.Measure 110, which passed with 58.8% positive votes, decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of all illegal drugs. It also creates a support program for drug abuse and addiction...

By Lauren Muskett • Nov. 4, 2020

Metric of the Month: Number of FTEs Performing the Order-to-Cash Process

Order-to-cash (O2C) is an end-to-end process that encompasses all the steps that a company carries out from the time it receives an order to the point at which it receives full payment for the order. It includes managing sales orders, processing customer credit, delivering products and services t...

By Perry D. Wiggins • Nov. 3, 2020

PayPal Posts Record Sales on E-Commerce Boom

PayPal delivered record-setting results for a second consecutive quarter as the payment processor continued to benefit from the e-commerce boom during the coronavirus pandemic.For the third quarter, PayPal’s revenue rose 25% year-to-year to a record $5.46 billion while net income increased to $1....

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 3, 2020

Exxon Posts $680M Loss as Oil Slump Continues

Exxon lost money for a record third straight quarter and disclosed that further capital spending cuts and possible writedowns of assets are ahead as it battles the pandemic-induced slump in demand for oil and gas.For the third quarter, the oil major reported Friday a loss of $680 million, or 15 c...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 30, 2020

Twitter Shares Fall on Slowing User Growth in Q3

Twitter shares fell sharply in extended trading Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected revenue and profit but missed estimates for user growth.For the third quarter, Twitter’s revenue rose 14% year-over-year to $936 million while net income fell to $28.66 million, or 4 cents per...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 30, 2020

U.S. GDP Surges by Record 33.1% in Q3

The U.S. economy rebounded at a record pace from its worst quarter in history but economists believe a full recovery from the coronavirus recession is still a long way off.The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product grew at a 33.1% annualized rate in the third quarter as...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 29, 2020

Moderna Q3 Revenues Beat Estimates

Coronavirus vaccine developer Moderna reported forecast-beating third-quarter revenues and a vaccine supply contract, sending shares higher.Moderna’s Q3 Results: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna reported third-quarter revenues of $157.91 million, notably higher than the year-ago revenues of...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 29, 2020

Visa Beats Estimates as Travel Slump Continues

Visa reported a 17% decline in quarterly revenue as the slowdown in travel-related spending outweighed growth in domestic payments.The credit card giant saw its fiscal fourth-quarter revenue fall to $5.10 billion from $6.14 billion a year ago, while analysts surveyed by FactSet had been projectin...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 29, 2020

Boeing Posts $466M Loss, Announces Job Cuts

Boeing lost less money than expected in the third quarter but said it would cut more jobs as it struggles to cope with reduced demand for its planes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.After reporting a third-quarter net loss of $466 million — from a profit of $1.2 billion a year earlier — Boeing said ano...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 28, 2020

Cloud Growth Drives Microsoft Earnings Beat

Pandemic-induced demand for cloud computing services helped push Microsoft’s quarterly earnings past analysts’ estimates though its guidance for the current quarter fell short of expectations.All three of Microsoft’s core segments grew strongly in the first quarter, with overall revenue rising 12...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 28, 2020