CFOs On the Move: Week Ending August 6

Edward Liu Healthcare marketplace Zocdoc appointed Edward Liu as chief financial officer. Liu has spent more than two decades at Morgan Stanley, where he was formerly head of Americas technology banking. At Morgan Stanley, he provided counsel to C-Suite executives and board members on strategic a...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 6, 2021

Lockheed Hunts for CFO After Ken Possenriede’s Sudden Exit

Pentagon’s largest defense contractor Lockheed Martin said on Tuesday chief financial officer Ken Possenriede is retiring immediately “due to personal reasons” and named a company veteran as an interim replacement.Ken Possenriede What Happened: The maker of F-35 fighter jets named John Mollard, t...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 4, 2021

EY, Partners Charged With Auditor Independence Violations

In trying to become the auditor of publicly held Sealed Air, maker of Bubble Wrap, Ernst & Young LLP and three of its partners went too far. Way too far, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. And they were assisted by  Sealed Air’s chief accounting officer at the time, William ...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 2, 2021

10 CFO Tips for the SPAC Transition

“The one regret I have is not investing more in the development of our finance function early on.”So said a chief financial officer who, after completing a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger, realized that his company was not as prepared for the rigors and stresses of life as a pub...

By Shauna Watson and Barclay Stanton • Aug. 2, 2021

SEC to Tighten Disclosure Rules for Chinese Firms

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is beefing up disclosure requirements for Chinese issuers, reflecting concerns over Beijing’s crackdown on technology firms.SEC Chairman Gary Gensler announced Friday a wide range of directives to staff that cover both Chinese companies that seek to reg...

By Matthew Heller • July 30, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending July 30

Jayant Mittal Jayant Mittal joined online pizza ordering platform Slice as finance chief. Mittal most recently spent four years as director of worldwide corporate development at Amazon. In that role, he led corporate development activities in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa into advanced tech...

By Lauren Muskett • July 30, 2021

Nikola Founder Charged With Fraud

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Trevor Milton, the founder and former CEO of electric truck maker Nikola, with fraud. The agency said Milton repeatedly provided false and misleading information to investors, which was often communicated to them through social media. Trevor Mil...

By Lauren Muskett • July 29, 2021

Data Breaches Cost Companies $4.24M Per Incident On Average

Companies hit by data breaches are impacted by $4.24 million per incident on average, according to the annual Cost of a Data Breach Report conducted by Ponemon Institute and published by IBM Security. That cost is up 10% from one year ago and is the highest cost in the 17-year history of the repo...

By Vincent Ryan • July 28, 2021

Microsoft Earnings: Highest Q4 Growth in 6 Years

Strong cloud growth and the surprising strength of the Office 365 segment of Microsoft were big topics covered by analysts in updated notes after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings.The Microsoft Analysts: Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss had an overweight rating on Microsoft and raise...

By Lauren Muskett • July 28, 2021

M&A Integrations: Leadership, Plans, and Incentives

Mergers and acquisitions offer one of the best ways for a proactive company to create value. However, during my nearly 20 years in private equity, I learned too often that one plus one is not always greater than two. When companies combine their operations and cultures, there are bound to be misa...

By Lauren Muskett • July 27, 2021

Tesla Beats $1B, Posts Record Profit in Q2

Tesla reported a record quarterly profit as volume growth and cost reduction offset higher supply chain costs and lower regulatory credit revenue.For the second quarter, the automaker’s (GAAP) net income was $1.14 billion, the first time it has surpassed $1 billion. Overall automotive revenue cam...

By Matthew Heller • July 27, 2021

Aon and Willis Towers Watson Cancel $30B Merger

Insurance brokers Aon and Willis Towers Watson have scrapped their proposed $30 billion merger following a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice agreement to block the transaction.What Happened: In a press statement, Aon CEO Greg Case pointed out that the two London-headquartered companies re...

By Lauren Muskett • July 26, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending July 23

Mark Bendza Telos appointed Mark Bendza as the cybersecurity company’s new chief financial officer. Bendza was previously vice president in charge of investor relations at Honeywell International. He has over 20 years of experience working with global companies in investor relations, business dev...

By Lauren Muskett • July 23, 2021

Out-of-Court Restructuring as a Viable Alternative to Chapter 11

To file or not to file for bankruptcy? It’s a question that no business leader wants to consider, but sometimes it’s necessary. Indeed, given the challenges and uncertainties of the last 16 months, it has been a top-of-mind issue for many companies across different economic sectors.In 2020, accor...

By David G. Dragich • July 22, 2021

The Strategic Role of the CFO in M&A

Whenever a market enters a frenzied buying period, good deals get harder to find and mistakes more likely. That’s what we see right now in M&A as the flood of easy money and fears of tax hikes under the Biden administration combine to fuel a record-breaking acquisition spree.  G...

By Lou Longo • July 20, 2021

Bond Market Pricing in at Least One Interest Rate Hike in 2022

One of the biggest fears among investors so far in 2021 has been that higher-than-expected inflation could prompt the Federal Reserve to act sooner and more aggressively with tightening measures, including potential interest rate hikes.In the past month, bond market investors have grown less cert...

By Lauren Muskett • July 20, 2021

Square Building Fintech Company With ‘Primary Focus on Bitcoin’

Jack Dorsey has announced Square is working on a new open developer fintech platform.Its main goal, according to Dorsey, is the facilitation of the creation of “non-custodial, permissionless, and decentralized financial services.”The business is being built in collaboration with Tidal, CashApp, a...

By Lauren Muskett • July 16, 2021

Creating a Compelling IPO Roadshow Presentation

When you are competing for capital in a traditional IPO or a SPAC-related PIPE transaction, you only have one chance to make a first impression. The stakes are high and hanging in the balance is access to the capital you need to scale your company and accelerate your industry leadership. Are you ...

By Moira Conlon • July 15, 2021

Delta Posts $652M Profit on Surging Demand

Delta Air Lines broke a streak of five straight money-losing quarters, benefiting from federal aid and the recovery in demand as the economy reopens.For the second quarter, Delta posted a profit of $652 million. Excluding the $1.5 billion in federal aid and other one-time items, it lost $1.07 per...

By Matthew Heller • July 14, 2021

Apple Working on ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Plan

Apple is working on a plan to offer a “buy now, pay later” product in partnership with Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.What Happened: The new service, known internally as Apple Pay Later, will allow consumers to pay for any Apple Pay purchase in installments and rivals similar servic...

By Lauren Muskett • July 14, 2021

Why Cryptocurrency Transactions Matter

With the price of bitcoin in the headlines daily and Tesla very publicly making major investments in cryptocurrencies, CFOs may be wondering if there is an opportunity here for their organization.While it’s certainly not for everyone, there are certain circumstances in which some limited involvem...

By Justin Wilcox • July 14, 2021

Drinks Lead Big Second Quarter for PepsiCo

PepsiCo shares jumped to a record high on Tuesday after the company easily beat quarterly earnings estimates and raised its full-year outlook.PepsiCo’s net sales for the second quarter rose 20.5% to $19.22 billion as the reopening of the economy fueled restaurant demand for its drinks. Net income...

By Matthew Heller • July 14, 2021

Microsoft Agrees to Buy Cybersecurity Firm RiskIQ for $500M

Microsoft will pay more than $500 million in cash to buy San Francisco cybersecurity software company RiskIQ, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.What Happened: The privately-held RiskIQ makes software for detecting online security threats that can be used by corp...

By Lauren Muskett • July 13, 2021

Your Business Survived the Pandemic – Now What?

No one was prepared for the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully, the U.S. government acted to provide businesses and individual workers with a much-needed lifeline. Economic stimulus programs such as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Heroes A...

By Cynthia Romano and Kevin Clancy • July 13, 2021

Preparing for Shareholder Activism

The question that CFOs should consider asking themselves: “How would I describe the company’s performance to shareholders if I were an activist, and what actions would I propose to potentially increase shareholder value?”  For CFOs of publicly traded companies, it’s never been more important to p...

By Lauren Muskett • July 12, 2021