In a lawsuit seeking to block the merger of health insurance companies Aetna and Humana, the U.S. Department of Justice cited decreased competition on state individual health insurance exchanges as one reason why the merger shouldn’t happen. [More]
mergers
Walgreens-Rite Aid Merger Still On Track, CEO Says Only 500 Stores Would Close
By 7.6.16
Walgreens and Rite Aid are the biggest and third-biggest pharmacy drugstore in this country, and they want to join forces to become a pharma-Voltron. The companies are waiting for regulatory approval, but the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance told shareholders today that the deal will probably go through by the end of 2016, and that it will result in the closing of only about 500 stores. [More]
Revlon Decides To Change Up Its Beauty Routine, Buys Elizabeth Arden For $870M
By 6.20.16
What’s a global beauty brand to do when it’s time to get a new look? Revlon decided to go shopping for something to change up its routine, picking up fellow cosmetics company Elizabeth Arden in a deal worth $870 million. [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]
In Most States, No Regulator Cares If A Merger Closes Your Local Hospitals
By 6.9.16
The consolidation of, well, everything in healthcare is kind of par for the course these days, really. Insurance companies, provider networks, and hospitals are constantly merging or buying each other out, all around the nation. Small, independent hospitals in every state are regularly bought by larger chains, and go from being “Smallville General Hospital” to being “HealthCoName Patient Care Center Of Smallville” all the time. [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]
Why Didn’t Staples And Office Depot Bother With A Defense Against The FTC?
By 5.12.16
On Tuesday evening, a federal judge in Washington, DC issued a preliminary injunction preventing the merger of Staples and Office Depot. The two companies called off their merger after that, but here’s the thing about the hearing: the FTC presented its case against the formation of an international office supply Voltron, but the stores decided not to put up a defense. In hindsight, that seems like a terrible idea. Why would they do that? [More]
Staples And Office Depot Will Move On As Strong, Confident, Single Office Supply Stores
By 5.11.16
Plans for other things at Staples and Office Depot have been on hold for months now, as the two companies waited to find out whether the Federal Trade Commission would allow their proposed merger to go through. Yesterday, the FTC was granted a preliminary injunction to stop the merger, and the two companies called off their engagement. What will they do now? They’ll make it on their own. Somehow. [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]
Here Are The 8 U.S. Craft Brewers Bought By Anheuser-Busch Since 2011
By 4.13.16
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s largest purchase to date — the $107 billion merger of rival SABMiller — might still be awaiting regulatory approval, but that certainly hasn’t stopped the beer behemoth from gobbling up smaller craft brewers in the meantime. In its eighth purchase of a U.S.-based craft brewer since 2011, AB has now added Virginia-based Devil’s Backbone to its “High End” portfolio. [More]
Now That It Knows It’s Attractive To Buyers, Virgin America Considering Sale
By 3.23.16
Sometimes you don’t know if you’re interested in something until you hear about it. It’s like realizing you are craving a cheeseburger the moment your friend asks if you’d like a cheeseburger. Such is the case for Virgin America, which is reportedly mulling the idea of selling itself after receiving takeover interest. [More]
Amazon Executive: Actually, We Don’t Have Any Big Corporate Office Supply Contracts Yet
By 3.23.16
Staples and Office Depot want to pledge their future and their fortunes together in corporate matrimony, and the Federal Trade Commission objects to their union. The companies and the Federal Trade Commission are making their cases before a federal judge, and the key question in this merger seems to be whether large corporations plan to buy their office supplies from Amazon in the future. An Amazon executive testified that they haven’t signed any major companies, and aren’t really pursuing big corporate contracts. Yet. [More]
Essendant Agrees To Buy Commercial Business From Staples And Office Depot If FTC Approves Merger
By 2.17.16
Staples and Office Depot want to merge and form one mega-chain of office supply stores that you mostly visit to drop off UPS packages. The Federal Trade Commission doesn’t approve of this union, because both sell supplies and serve as wholesalers to smaller office suppliers. The companies announced late yesterday that they’ve reached an agreement with Essendant, a smaller national supplier, to take over some of that business if the merger goes through. [More]
Dow And DuPont Merging To Create Massive Chemical Voltron In $130B Deal
By 12.11.15
It may sound like the perfect marriage of the cold war era, but it’s 21st century business all over: Dow and DuPont, the two oldest, biggest chemical companies in the country, today announced their plans to merge in a whopping $130 billion deal. [More]
Verizon CFO: Sure, We’d Be Interested In Buying Yahoo’s Web Business
By 12.7.15
After reports swirled last week that Verizon might be in the mood to go shopping in the Internet company aisle, the company’s chief financial officer says it could possibly be interested in buying Yahoo’s web business — if Yahoo is selling and if a deal made sense. [More]
Chicken Of The Sea, Bumble Bee Abandon Plan To Unite As One Giant Can Of Tuna After DOJ Objects
By 12.4.15
Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee will be leaving their underwater wedding separately despite going steady since 2014: the two tuna companies won’t be merging into one giant can of fish after the U.S. Justice Department put the kibosh on their planned union. [More]
If Walgreens And Rite Aid Merge, Thousands Of Stores Might Close
By 11.5.15
Last week, Walgreens Boots Alliance, the parent company of this country’s top drugstore chain, announced that pending antitrust approval, it would buy the #3 chain, Rite Aid, for $9.4 billion. That would create two massive national drugstore chains, and also leave a lot of empty stores. One estimate is that 3,000 stores would close… not necessarily for antitrust reasons, but because the stores are simply too close together. [More]
Sale Of Commercial Supply Business Could Let Staples-Office Depot Merger Go Through
By 10.26.15
One of the barriers to the formation of the StaplesMaxDepot office-supply Voltron has been the commercial supply businesses that both companies run: in addition to running retail stores, they both also do business delivering office supplies to corporate clients. One possibility could let the mega-merger go forward: Staples could sell its commercial supply business to competitor Essendant. [More]
