The $107 billion (with a b) merger of beer titans Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller has cleared a major hurdle today, with the U.S. Justice Department signing off on the merger — under the condition that Miller divest itself of all its remaining U.S.-based businesses. [More]
mergers and acquisitions
Report: Justice Dep’t Ready To Block Both Anthem/Cigna And Aetna/Humana Mergers
By 7.19.16
We closed out 2015 with the health insurance market poised to get a lot smaller, as Anthem proposed to by Cigna and Aetna said it would buy Humana. If both mergers go through, the number of large nationwide health insurance carriers would drop to just three… a big challenge in a U.S. that’s seen the market for health insurance expand since the Affordable Care Act went into effect. And if reports are true, the Justice Department may feel that’s just too much contraction. [More]
Sprint’s Parent Company Spending $32 Billion To Buy A Piece Of Everyone’s Phones
By 7.18.16
A big tech deal was announced between two international companies today. Japan-based SoftBank bought UK-based ARM for $32 billion, a sentence that’s meaningless to most of us. But put another way, it starts to make a whole lot more sense: the company that owns Sprint just bought the company that makes the parts that make your iPhone actually work. [More]
[Update] Parent Company Of Nabisco And Oreo Wants To Gobble Up Hershey Chocolate
By 6.30.16
Snack food giant and grocery store staple Mondelez International apparently has decided it needs more chocolate for the s’mores you can make with its Honey Maid graham crackers, and is making a takeover bid for Hershey Foods. [More]
Alaska Airlines Might Not Drop Virgin America Name After Merger
By 6.15.16
Two months after Alaska Airlines put $4 billion on the table and bought up Virgin America, the soon-to-be fifth largest airline operating in the U.S. is spilling the beans — kind of — about its future, and that might include keeping the recently purchased carrier’s name. [More]
FanDuel: Report Of DraftKings Merger Is “Speculation”
By 6.13.16
The two biggest names in the world of daily fantasy sports (DFS) are keeping mum about a report claiming the two companies are considering a merger. [More]
Why Is Microsoft Spending $26 Billion To Acquire LinkedIn?
By 6.13.16
Microsoft will soon have your resume on file — or at least the resume of a few hundred million LinkedIn members. The two companies announced a deal this morning that would see Microsoft pay $26.2 billion to acquire the job-networking site. [More]
Report: The FTC Is Probably Cool With The Walgreens-Rite Aid Merger
By 6.10.16
A few months ago, the shareholders of #3 U.S. drugstore chain Rite Aid approved the company’s proposed acquisition by the parent company of the #1 chain, Walgreens Boots Alliance. Now reports indicate that the Federal Trade Commission may give the merger its blessing, as long as certain conditions are met. [More]
Staples CEO Stepping Down After Failed Office Depot Acquisition
By 5.31.16
Staples announced today that its chairman and chief executive officer, Ron Sargent, is giving the public his two-week notice: he’ll be stepping down on June 14, after the company’s next shareholders meeting. Sargent has been CEO of the office superchain since 2002, and has worked for Staples since 1989, when the company was only three years old. [More]
Monsanto Says $62 Billion Bayer Merger Offer Is “Financially Inadequate”
By 5.24.16
A day after aspirin king Bayer officially offered $62 billion to acquire Missouri seed and pesticide giant Monsanto, the deal already appears troubled, with Monsanto’s board of directors saying the offer isn’t sufficient. [More]
Bayer Officially Offers $62B For Monsanto
By 5.23.16
Bayer officially wants to expand its CropSciences business and become the world’s largest producer of seeds, pesticides and agricultural chemicals, bidding $62 billion for Monsanto. [More]
Judge’s Opinion: Staples And Office Depot Aren’t Desperate Penguins On An Iceberg Yet
By 5.18.16
At the beginning of 2015, Staples proposed an acquisition of the then freshly merged Office Depot and OfficeMax. They insisted that the cost savings would help them battle online rivals and keep their costs low to stay competitive. Ultimately, a federal judge sided with the FTC and put a temporary stop to the merger, and ultimately the companies gave up on the idea of merging. The judge’s opinion has been released, and now we know why. [More]
Farewell, Time Warner Cable; Nobody Is Going To Miss You
By 5.18.16
The most-loathed company in all of America is soon to be no more. With the merger of Charter and Time Warner Cable approved and under way, the widely-detested TWC brand is soon to be up on the chopping block. [More]
Fitbit Looks To Turn Its Fitness Trackers Into Wearable Digital Wallets
By 5.18.16
When most of us think of wearable fitness trackers, Fitbit is probably the brand that comes to mind, but the growing popularity of multitasking smartwatches from Apple, Samsung and others means Fitbit is eventually going to need to offer more than just health data. So it comes as little surprise that the company is looking toward the future by acquiring mobile payment technology. [More]
Bayer Reportedly Looking To Acquire Monsanto For $40 Billion
By 5.12.16
When you hear the name Bayer, you probably think of aspirin or other drugs, but the German company has a number of facets, including its sizable CropScience division that produces seeds, pesticides, and other agricultural products. Now comes news that Bayer may be looking to become the world’s largest player in this field (forgive the pun) with a possible acquisition of Monsanto. [More]
The Staples-Office Depot Merger Is Dead
By 5.10.16
The opinion issued today by U.S. District Court judge Emmet Sullivan doesn’t actually say that the country’s biggest office supply chain, Staples, can’t acquire the #2 office supply chain, Office Depot. As the Federal Trade Commission requested, the judge granted a preliminary injunction stopping the merger. That prevents the companies from merging until the FTC is done with their administrative antitrust case, but representatives of the two companies previously said that they would break the engagement if the FTC prevailed. [More]
FCC Officially Gives Green Light To Merger Of Time Warner Cable & Charter
By 5.6.16
A couple weeks back, both the FCC and the Justice Department made it clear that they were not going to challenge the massive merger of Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications (and the third wheel of the merger á trois Bright House) after putting some conditions on the deal. Today, the FCC officially confirmed that it has given its blessing to this marriage of inconvenience. [More]
Rovi Buys TiVo For $1.1B
By 4.29.16
Rovi and TiVo are getting hitched. The technology maker announced Friday that it would pay $1.1 billion to bring the set-top box recorder under its wing. [More]
