With a dwindling beer-drinking population in its home country of Japan, Sapporo Brewing has set its sights on U.S. shores to bolster its business, snapping up Anchor Brewing Company — maker of Anchor Steam — for $85 million. [More]
mergers and acquisitions
Charter Decides It’s Not Particularly Interested In Being Acquired By Sprint Right Now
By 7.31.17
You would think that after just having finished a mega-merger with Time Warner Cable last year, Charter might want to take a break before diving into any more major transactions. And yet that hasn’t stopped Sprint from coming ’round knocking at Charter’s door. [More]
McCormick Spices Buys Maker Of French’s Mustard, Other Sauces For $4.2B
By 7.19.17
Making a tasty, tangy sauce takes a little bit of spice, but the maker of French’s Mustard and Frank’s RedHot brands is about to get a lot of spice: Ingredients maker McCormick & Company – the company behind those red bottles of seasonings and brands Lawry’s, Zatarain’s, Old Bay, and others — will buy condiment maker Reckitt Benckiser for $4.2 billion. But don’t expect the deal to change the condiment aisle too much. [More]
Lawmaker Wants Antitrust Panel To Take A Closer Look At Amazon, Whole Foods Merger
By 7.14.17
A month after Amazon and Whole Foods announced they would be joining forces in wedded grocery bliss, one lawmaker is asking his colleagues on a House antitrust panel to hold a hearing on the $13 billion merger plan. [More]
DraftKings, FanDuel Throwing In The Merger Towel After Feds Oppose The Deal
By 7.13.17
Weeks after the Federal Trade Commission went to court to block the merger of daily fantasy sports mega-sites DraftKings and FanDuel, the companies are throwing in the towel rather than fight the government. [More]
Abercrombie & Fitch Removing “For Sale” Sign From Its Bared, Chiseled Chest
By 7.10.17
Two months after Abercrombie & Fitch slapped a “for sale” sign on its tanned, muscled self, the retailer has decided not to sell itself after all. [More]
QVC Buys Home Shopping Network For Low, Low Price Of $2.1B
By 7.6.17
It appears that QVC looked in its closet one day, couldn’t find anything to wear, and just decided to go buy something new. But instead of just picking out an outfit, it scooped up rival Home Shopping Network for a cool $2.1 billion. [More]
Walgreens No Longer Merging With Rite Aid; Still Plans To Buy Half Of Rite Aid Stores For $5.2 Billion
By 6.29.17
It’s been nearly two years since Walgreens first agreed to buy competitor Rite Aid and its 4,600 or so stores for $9.4 billion to form the nation’s largest drugstore chain, only to see the value of that deal shrink amid antitrust concerns. Today, Walgreens announced that it’s scrapping that original plan to combine forces with Rite Aid but still plans to purchase about half of the smaller company’s retail locations. [More]
Amazon’s Likely First Move At Whole Foods: Bring In Warehouse Robots
By 6.26.17 — Updated: 6.27.17
When Amazon and Whole Foods announced that they were getting hitched in the corporate sense, the benefits for both sides were obvious. Amazon would acquire its way into a grocery distribution network and hundreds of stores with upscale customers, and Whole Foods would get a parent company at the forefront of retail technology. What’s likely to be first up for Whole Foods? Warehouse robots. [More]
Report: Charter Looking To Buy Cox Communications
By 6.22.17
While it was rumored that Charter said “no thank you” to Verizon’s estimated $100 billion merger offer earlier this year because it just wasn’t enough money, new reports suggest the rejection was actually because Charter wanted to go on its own shopping spree, snatching up Cox Communications. [More]
Amazon Merger “Not A Tinder Relationship” Says Gaga Whole Foods CEO John Mackey
By 6.20.17
What a difference $13.7 billion makes. Last week, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey had some choice words for investors who were urging him to sell the company, calling them “greedy bastards.” But after Amazon has announced it’s buying the grocery chain for a tidy sum, Mackey is whistling quite a different tune. [More]
Walmart Adds Men’s Clothing Retailer Bonobos To Its Collection Of Online Businesses
By 6.16.17
When someone says “retailers of upscale men’s fashion,” you probably don’t picture Walmart. Yet the mega-retailer is adding menswear company Bonobos, which started online and now has boutiques in cities and in Nordstrom stores, to its collection of online brands. [More]
Amazon Buying Whole Foods For $13.7 Billion
By 6.16.17
Amazon really, really wants to sell you groceries. But starting a new grocery service — especially online — from scratch is hard. It seems, however, Amazon has found a solution: Just buy a well-known chain that already operates nationwide, instead. [More]
Report: Feds May Try To Stop Merger Of DraftKings, FanDuel
By 6.15.17
DraftKings and FanDuel — the two biggest names in daily fantasy sports — are currently waiting on federal regulators to approve a merger that would combine the two companies into one operation. However, a new report claims that the Federal Trade Commission may try to block this blessed union. [More]
Report: Charter Said No To Verizon Buyout Offer Because It Wasn’t Enough Money
By 6.1.17
For months, Verizon’s own leaders have been stoking the rumor mill with comments about just how ready the wireless giant is to acquire someone, anyone they currently compete with. It seems that wasn’t just talk, but that Verizon actually tried to make a play on Charter before being rebuffed earlier this year. [More]
T-Mobile Exec Gets Romantic, Says Marriage To Sprint Makes Most Sense
By 5.19.17
The teen-dream romance between T-Mobile and Sprint is moving on from playful banter in the lunchroom to lingering by the lockers between classes, with a top T-Mo USA executive saying that a merger with Sprint would make the most sense. [More]
Sprint, T-Mobile Reportedly Chatting About Potential Merger Marriage
By 5.12.17
After a week of playing it cool and dropping subtle, flirtatious, hints about the possibility of a merger, it sounds like Sprint and T-Mobile are ready to seriously discuss whether they want to try again to get hitched. [More]
