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

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

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

Elon Musk to Testify Over Tesla’s $2.6B SolarCity Buy

Tesla CEO Elon Musk will testify about the electric vehicle maker’s $2.6 billion acquisition of solar panel company SolarCity in a shareholder lawsuit on Monday, the Associated Press reported.What Happened: The lawsuit alleges that the acquisition failed to deliver the profits promised by Musk an...

By Lauren Muskett • July 12, 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

Will Public Company ESG Disclosures Come From Shareholders or Regulators?

Creighton Meland owns shares in a California-based company that markets airport security systems and metal detectors. Like all public company shareholders, Meland periodically has the opportunity to vote for or against nominees to the company’s board of directors, who will presumably steer the co...

By Lauren Muskett • July 9, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending July 9

Kevin Brackman Advent Technologies appointed Kevin Brackman as its new finance chief. Brackman most recently served as CFO of Myers Industries. Before his promotion to CFO in 2018, he was Myers’ chief accounting officer and corporate controller. Before that, he was director of financial planning ...

By Lauren Muskett • July 9, 2021

How Much Industry Experience Does Your New CFO Need?

While exceptions can be made, industry experience matters more for upper-level finance hires than for other hires in an organization.Ask any group of talent acquisition professionals how essential industry experience is when hiring senior to C-level finance talent, and you get responses ranging f...

By Yasmine O’Brien • July 8, 2021

EU Fines BMW, Volkswagen $1B Over Delaying Clean Emissions Technology

The European Union has imposed approximately $1 billion in fines on BMW and Volkswagen AG for a collusion scheme designed to slow the introduction of AdBlue emissions-cleaning technology.What Happened: BMW will pay approximately $422.3 million and Volkswagen will pay about $595.3 million in their...

By Lauren Muskett • July 8, 2021

Evaluating Employer Health Plan Costs Post-Pandemic

When it comes to health plan cost calculations for firms over the next year, consider these four major coronavirus-related factors. How demographics of the specific employee pool may affect cost. Which types of treatments for elective-deferral-related illnesses employees are likely to pursue now ...

By Lauren Muskett • July 7, 2021