M&A Rule Number 3: Verify corporate culture Another intangible asset that smart companies are eyeing is the hard-to-quantify area of “corporate culture.” Navision Software, a Copenhagen-based company, recently completed acquisitions of three of its distributors in France, Sweden, and Holland. But before doing the deal, the company did a values-check on its targets, according...
NBC acquired significant shares of Net companies Auto-by-Tel, USWeb, and CNET during the first six months of this year, chiefly to gain audience share and expand it by tying the companies with the well-known peacock brand. NBC’s online strategy is simple, said Marty Yudkovitz, president of NBC Interactive Media: Aggregate online audiences.
In the hit movie Wall Street, the ruthless Jerard Douglas character Gordon Gekko, based on ’80s deal maker Ivan Boesky, had a simple strategy for acquisitions: Buy firms with a great asset base. Then close down faltering plants, sell off the machines, tools, and inventory, take tax write-offs, and, finally, broker the remaining divisions...
October 2-3 Tuesday and Wednesday we climbed at the Motherlode again – I am drawn to return to this phenomenal formation, despite the fact that I’m not very good at the steep, continuous climbing there. The weather has warmed up to near-perfect fall conditions, and I’m excited by the prospect of traveling for five...
September 15 Climbing in the cave at Sinks Canyon today, another climber, Dan, suddenly exclaimed, “Look – an airplane!” We all stopped and watched the jet soar above us, its sound ripping through the quiet canyon after it was already out of sight. Brilliant sunlight kept us climbing until dark, when we headed back...
Rock climbers call it “living the dream” – giving up normal life to live on the road and rock climb at places all around the country (or the world). Earlier this year I decided that now is the time for me to live the dream, and on August 31 I took the plunge, hitching...