• British American Tobacco Offers $47 Billion for Reynolds American In a move that could create the world's largest listed tobacco company, British American Tobacco has offered $47 billion to buy the remaining stake in U.S. firm Reynolds American. The unsolicited cash-and-stock takeover bid would hand BAT the 57.8% stake in Reynolds it does not already own, representing a roughly 20% premium over the Thursday closing price of the American company's stock. Reynolds, which hasn't yet responded to the takeover offer, is only a few days removed from announcing former PepsiCo executive Debra Crew as its next CEO, starting in January. Should the two companies agree on a deal, the takeover would fully combine such well-known cigarette brands as Camel, Newport, and Pall Mall. Reuters • Walmart's Unveils its Plan for China Walmart announced on Thursday a series of initiatives in partnership with Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com. The new plans will see Walmart taking advantage of JD.com's extensive delivery infrastructure to reach a consumer base representing roughly 90% of China's population. Walmart, which could even use drones to deliver goods to Chinese customers, took a 5% stake in JD.com over the summer as part of a deal in which the Chinese company acquired Walmart's local e-commerce platform. As Walmart looks to grow its e-commerce business globally, CEO Doug McMillon has promised a "sharpened focus on China," where the company's pace of store openings has slowed in recent years. Fortune • Microsoft's Cloud Business Sends Shares Sky High Microsoft's share price reached an all-time high of $60.75 in after-hours trading on Thursday after the software giant reported that sales of its Azure cloud computing service more than doubled in its latest quarter compared to the same period last year. Overall, Microsoft's so-called "intelligent cloud" business—which includes Azure as well as server software sales—saw its revenue increase more than 8% to nearly $6.4 billion year-over-year. While the results show the latest fruits in CEO Satya Nadella's bet on cloud computing, his company still has a long way to go to catch up to market leader Amazon. Fortune • Bombardier Will Cut Another 7,500 Jobs Bombardier said Friday that it is cutting another 7,500 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, as the Canadian manufacturer of planes and trains looks to maneuver out from its massive debt load. The company expects to record between $225 million and $275 million in restructuring charges starting in this year's fourth quarter and continuing into 2017. The turnaround plan could yield savings of roughly $300 million annually by the end of 2018, Bombardier said. The latest layoffs mark the company's second major cuts in eight months, as the company announced an earlier 10% employment cut in February. Bombardier continues to carry nearly $9 billion in long-term debt, much of which it accrued developing its new C Series jetliner. Bloomberg | 
No comments:
Post a Comment