Dealing with an M&A rumor is tricky terrain for a CEO. When you’ve got to do it in the middle of a big industry event, well, that’s a high-wire act for sure. Just ask Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, who arrived at a Citibank investment conference a day after a Bloomberg news report said he was […]
The Coca-Cola Company was compelled to release a short statement yesterday denying that it was “at this time, not in dicussionss” to acquire energy-drink maker Monster Beverage Corp. Monster shares spiked on a report in the Wall Street Journal that Coke was exploring a deal for the company, only to fall back once Coke issued […]
At this hour, executives and MF Global are huddling with bankers and lawyers, trying to come up with a deal to sell the firm. It must seem like a surreal exercise, since just days earlier the firm held a solid investment-grade credit rating and a market cap of $620 million. Now, as its clients turn […]
The hole is getting deeper for Olympus and its chairman, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa. And his outside auditor, Ernst & Young, might find itself alongside him. A day after denying allegations by its former CEO, Michael Woodford, that it paid advisory fees of $687 million on a $2 billion acquisition, the company reversed itself and acknowledged that […]
I recently spoke to graduate students at Baruch College in New York City. The topic was employee communications in M&A deals, and I introduced what I call “Richard’s Rules” for these situations. Here’s a sample. 1. News will leak, and usually at the worst time. Anyone who has handled communications for an M&A deal knows […]