Word: mergers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
BankAmerica spent last week dodging a $3.4 billion merger bid by First Interstate Bancorp and an informal takeover offer from Citicorp. But the beleaguered San Francisco company realizes that its shareholders will scream foul unless it does something to rescue its foundering finances (more than $1 billion in losses in the past six quarters). To raise cash, BankAmerica has decided to consider selling one of its crown jewels, the highly profitable Charles Schwab discount-brokerage subsidiary. The most probable buyer is none other than Charles Schwab, the company's founder, who sold out to BankAmerica in 1983 for $52 million...
During all the hubbub, one influential group of bystanders seemed ominously quiet. They were the clients: the food companies and soapmakers that had grown accustomed to undivided attention from the ad agencies. Now that the merger mania is over, many clients are passing loud and painful judgment on the results. Their verdict so far: bigger is not necessarily better. An unprecedented parade of coveted clients has quit the two supergroups for smaller agencies. One such advertiser is RJR Nabisco, which took away $32 million in accounts (example: Fleischmann's margarine) from Omnicom and $96 million from Saatchi & Saatchi/Ted Bates. Declared...
...Saatchi & Saatchi/Ted Bates have totaled more than $300 million; among the clients who canceled accounts were Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble and Warner-Lambert. While both agencies claim that they can absorb those losses without severe stress, the exodus of blue-chip clients has quickly soured Madison Avenue's merger mood...
...messy personnel struggle in September at the top of Ted Bates aggravated the feeling among some advertisers that power hunger or greed might be the true motivating force behind the mergers. Chairman Robert Jacoby, even after taking home an estimated $100 million of the $450 million merger price, proved unwilling to give up authority to his new bosses, Admen Charles and Maurice Saatchi...
...protection against the less favorable tax rules taking effect on Jan. 1, some acquisition contracts reportedly contain "drop-dead" clauses, which state that the deal is off if the transaction is not completed before year's end. In the midst of this merger activity, takeover speculation has driven up the stocks of some companies. Among them: Goodyear Tire & Rubber, whose shares rose from 34 1/2 on Oct. 1 to 48 1/4 at the end of last week, and the E.F. Hutton Group, which rose from 42 to 51 1/8 during the same period...