Operating at the Intersection of Technology and the Capital Markets
Tag: culture
When it comes to Technology companies, headcount reductions are rarely "one & done". This used to be especially true of Bay Area Technology companies which are famous for lacking operating discipline (i.e. cost discipline). However, the Bay Area aversion to running profitable businesses has permeated the Tech sector over the past 12 years of easy … Continue reading Tech Company Layoffs Are Rarely “One & Done”
Will Apple, Disney or Netflix pursue an acquisition of NewCo? Last year we wrote that AT&T should sell WarnerMedia. On Monday AT&T (tkr: T) led by John Stankey agreed to spin-off its WarnerMedia asset and to combine it with John Malone's Discovery (tkr: DISCA) in a new, publicly-traded company led by Discovery CEO David Zaslav. … Continue reading AT&T Took Our Advice But It Does Not Solve The Scale Problem
FactSet (tkr: FDS), has all of the tools - more precisely data sets - to compete with ZoomInfo (tkr: ZI), and to potentially close the valuation gap between the two companies. FactSet's platform includes data sets that are more robust than their ZoomInfo counterparts (with the exception of executive profile data), and could therefore challenge … Continue reading CEO Personality, Corporate Culture and Opportunity Cost
The drama around former McDonald's (tkr: MCD) CEO Steve Easterbrook could have been avoided if the Board had been engaged. Similarly, the company's HR function failed. Self-preservation is to blame. Ironically, McDonald's Board is at risk of being purged and HR leadership has already turned over under new MCD CEO Chris Kempczinski. How is self-preservation … Continue reading McDonald’s: Cultural Rot Starts At The Top
When it comes to Corporate Governance, Best Buy (ticker: BBY), can't get out of it's own way. This weekend's news that Best Buy's Board of Directors is investigating allegations that CEO Corie Barry had an inappropriate romantic relationship with a former Best Buy executive is a bit of a head-scratcher. We have seen this Best … Continue reading What’s Up With Best Buy’s Culture?
A Winning Culture Doesn't Happen by Accident "Culture" is a word of the moment that has been spoken ad nauseam, primarily by sports and business media. Sports journalists heavily used the word during the recent NFL coaching carousel. What these journalists failed to mention is that "culture" in the context of an organization is not … Continue reading Defining A Winning Culture
CEOs risk losing credibility with employees, shareholders, customers and damaging their companies when they refuse to hold themselves accountable. What do Mark Parker of Nike, Kevin Plank of Under Armour and Dennis Muilenburg of Boeing have in common? Yes, each holds the CEO title (although Parker and Plank will step down at year-end). However, we … Continue reading A Corporate Culture Failure: CEO’s Who Do Not Hold Themselves Accountable
Cultural fit between merger/acquisition partners is essential in order to maximize the probability of a successful transaction. We define successful M&A transactions as those where the parties who agree to merge/be acquired have engaged employee bases that are motivated to work and create new products and services together. To engage with customers together. This goes … Continue reading Culture Is King in Strategic M&A
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