Only weeks after making a deal with cargo company Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) to lease a fleet of 20 planes to use for shipping packages, Amazon is now a part owner of the company. [More]
murders and executions
Marriott Beefs Up Bid, Buys Starwood Hotels For $13.6 Billion
By 3.21.16
Momentum in the tug-of-war over Starwood Hotels — home to brands like Sheraton, St. Regis, Westin, and W — has shifted once again. Only days after China’s Anbang Insurance appeared destined to win with its “superior proposal,” Marriott managed to dig deep with the help of a few billion additional dollars.
Starwood Backs Away From Marriott Deal After New Buyer Offers $13.2B
By 3.18.16
Earlier this week, it looked like the $12 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels — which includes brands like Sheraton, St. Regis, Westin, and W — by Marriott was in doubt after last-minute interest from China-based Anbang Insurance Group. Today, there is no doubt; that original deal is dead and Starwood is going with the higher offer from Anbang. [More]
Fresh Market Sold To Private Equity Firm, Apollo Global, For $1.36B
By 3.14.16
Specialty grocery chain Fresh Market is starting the week with a new owner: Apollo Management Group agreed to acquire the chain for about $1.36 billion in cash over the weekend. [More]
General Motors Acquires Self-Driving Car Startup
By 3.11.16
Two months after General Motors unveiled a $500 million investment in Lyft, the mustachioed ride-hailing service, with the hopes of one day providing the masses with rides in a self-driving fleet, the carmaker has taken a step that might help it realize that goal: acquiring self-driving vehicle startup Cruise Automation. [More]
Facebook Buys Photo Filter App To Compete With Snapchat’s Puking Rainbow
By 3.10.16
Your friends’ posts on Facebook are about to get a bit more cartoon-like now that the social media company has acquired selfie-altering startup Masquerade Technologies. [More]
Sagging Sports Authority May Sell Stores To Dick’s
By 3.1.16
Last week, it was reported that Sports Authority is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the hope of restructuring its business and shedding hundreds of million in debt. Now comes news that this rebuild may involve selling some of its retail locations to competitors like Dick’s Sporting Goods. [More]
Hasbro, Mattel Reportedly Talking About Making One Big Toy Company To End All Others
By 2.4.16
Imagine a world where G.I. Joe marries Barbie (or Ken) and then they both drive off in their Hot Wheels car to their My Little Pony ranch — and all these products come from the same company. It’s a possibility, with Mattel and Hasbro reportedly chatting about merging the contents of their respective toy chests.
[More]
CVS Unveils First Store-Within-Store Pharmacies At Target
By 2.3.16
Target customers will soon see what $1.9 billion can buy, as CVS has officially started rebranding the big box store’s pharmacies into its own mini drugstores. [More]
Univision Reportedly Buys Controlling Slice Of The Onion
By 1.19.16
Why should Comcast have all the fun buying up new media products? Univision Communications –parent company of the Univision TV network and dozens of other radio and TV stations — has reportedly snapped up a controlling stake in Onion Inc. [More]
Icahn Reportedly Wins Pep Boys Bidding Battle For $1B; Bridgestone Leaves Race
By 12.30.15
And just like that, it appears the auto parts retailer love triangle has ended: Bridgestone, the one-time preferred suitor of Pep Boy, reportedly bowed out of the months-long bidding war with Icahn Enterprises. [More]
Auto Parts Retailer Love Triangle Reaches $1B With Icahn Once Again Topping Bridgestone In Bid For Pep Boys
By 12.29.15
The auto parts retailer love triangle continues to take new twists and turns as the year comes to an end, with Icahn Enterprises once again upping the ante – to the tune of $1 billion – in its bid to steal Pep Boys away from suitor Bridgestone. [More]
Anheuser-Busch Buys Breckenridge Brewery, Third Craft Brewer In One Week
By 12.22.15
As if the pending $107 billion merger with SABMiller wasn’t enough of a portfolio boost for Anheuser-Busch InBev, the beer giant has purchased not one, but three craft brewers in the last week. The company’s most recent holiday gift for itself is Breckenridge Brewing of Colorado. [More]
Federal Regulators Still Objecting To Marriage Of Staples And Office Depot
By 12.21.15
Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission went to court in an effort to block the pending merger of office-supply mega chains Staples and Office Depot, saying that it would result in too little competition in the market for supplies being sold to businesses. Since then, Staples has tried to revise the deal to make it more palatable, but to no avail. [More]
Maker Of Sharpie To Buy Maker Of Crock-Pot For $13B, Creating A Consumer Product Smorgasbord
By 12.14.15
All of those storage containers, Sharpies, coolers, and crockpots you have dotting the insides of cupboards now have a lot more in common than one might think: Newell Rubbermaid, the company behind Sharpie and Rubbermaid storage products Jarden, the company behind the Coleman and Crock-Pot brands, for $13.2 billion. [More]
Pep Boys Concedes That Icahn’s Offer May Be “Superior” To Bridgestone, Will Explore The Deal Further
By 12.8.15
When Dollar General entered an unsolicited billion dollar bid for Family Dollar last year, the smaller company said thanks but no thanks. The latest merger-love triangle appears to be taking a different path: auto parts retailer Pep Boys seems to be mulling the idea of ditching its already agreed upon deal with Bridgestone in favor of more money from Auto Plus owner Icahn Enterprises. [More]
Auto Parts Love Triangle: Icahn Offers $837M For Pep Boys, One-Upping Bridgestone’s $835M Bid
By 12.7.15
Love triangles are generally a plot device used in movies and television shows to keep viewers’ eyes glued to the screen, screaming for their preferred suitor to win out. Recently, though, the messy affairs have infiltrated the mergers and acquisitions realm with the months-long dollar store war – Dollar General and Dollar Tree fighting over Family Dollar. Today, that trend continued with the company behind Auto Plus offering to buy the already betrothed Pep Boys retail operations out from under Bridgestone. [More]
Verizon Tops List Of Potential Buyers For Yahoo’s Internet Business
By 12.3.15
While you may not have checked your old Yahoo Mail account since before the recession, the Web 1.0 relic continues to exist. And now that Yahoo’s board may be looking to sell off the portion of the business that most people associate with the company, a number of potential buyers are licking their chops at getting some piece of the meal. [More]
