A spinoff of a Dow Jones Industrial Average component is not an everyday occurrence. GE(GE), a former Dow component, recently spun off its transportation business into Wabtec(WAB), but the struggling company was removed from the Dow last June. United Technologies(UTX) plans to split in three next year. Even rarer, in this case, the child will join the Dow,… Read More »
Despite a history and reputation for outperformance, not every spinoff turns into a winner. I know, shocking, right? In this week’s edition of Odds & Ends we look at a few situations where shareholders have not been rewarded for holding on: FTD Companies (FTD), the flower delivery company, recently warned that it was hovering on life support. The… Read More »
A title pairing Robert Zimmerman and Madonna Louise Ciccone- too much? No matter, we’re having fun. DowDuPont(DWDP) is as well, with two spins coming up, the first in just weeks. It was just 36 months ago that Dow and DuPont announced their merger, and just 18 months ago when it closed. All along, they intended to split into… Read More »
AP Moller Maersk’s (AMKBY) drilling spinoff is set for early April and the new company will be called The Drilling Company of 1972. The name reminds me of Sara Lee’s 2012 DE Master Blenders 1753 spinoff. Must be a European thing or something and in any case, it’s an instant addition to the list of terribly named spinoffs.… Read More »
As we discussed last week, the big Disney (DIS) / Twenty First Century Fox deal is set to close this Thursday. In the meantime, 21st Century Fox shareholders have made their choices about how they want to receive their ‘consideration’ from Disney and apparently too many wanted the cold, hard cash: Holders of 959,919,192 shares of 21CF common… Read More »
Born as Microbia over twenty years ago, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals(IRWD) trades just 21% above its 2010 IPO price. It has managed to get to market with LINZESS, a treatment for IBS. Partnered with Allergan(AGN), LINZESS did $761.2 million in 2018 US sales. Now, Ironwood will be spinning off much of its R&D business as Cyclerion. Current Ironwood CEO and… Read More »
Lets close the week with some Odds & Ends. In this week’s edition, we provide some updates on recent and upcoming spinoffs. We also give thanks to a reader for pointing out something we missed – keep it up! Thanks to reader AH for pointing out that we missed Naspers (NPSNY) spinoff of its Pay-TV business, MultiChoice Group… Read More »
via GIPHY On this month’s episode of Stock Disasters, we once again discuss Helios & Matheson Analytics(HMNY). Last month, our protagonist had announced plans to spinoff MoviePass, despite being insolvent, bleeding money, and having no hope of raising meaningful capital. We suggested, probably a bit too charitably, that it was unlikely to succeed with its spinoff plan. Some… Read More »
We’ve been here before. The dismantling of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire began in earnest in June 2013 when News Corp completed the spin off of its publishing business as the new News Corp(NWS) and changed its own name to 21st Century Fox(FOX). That deal separated Murdoch’s declining but beloved newspaper business from the growing film and television business… Read More »
Eaton (ETN) recently hosted an investor day and announced that it would be pruning its portfolio of businesses. As part of that initiative, the company will spin off its LED lighting business by the end of 2019. Like its parent, the new lighting company will be domiciled in Ireland (remember when tax inversions were all the rage?), but… Read More »
Is breaking up retail conglomerates about to become a trend? Last week, Gap(GPS) announced the planned spinoff of its Old Navy brand. Now, Barington Capital is urging L Brands(LB), parent of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, to spinoff one of the two brands. Barington has a history of activism and last appeared in these pages when… Read More »
When we last checked in on Dan Loeb’s Third Point it was mid 2017 and the fund was cruising while also singing the praises of Baxter International (BAX). Unfortunately, 2018 was a rough year for the firm and performance, at -11.3%, lagged the overall S&P 500. Market Folly shares the fund’s recent Q4 mea culpa letter which offers… Read More »
Dearest Readers, we have a confession to make. We fell short of the sacred trust you have placed in us, and were, somehow remiss. You see, it seems, that other than to mention an index change, we never discussed Air Products and Chemicals (APD) October 2016 spinoff of Versum Materials (VSM). We apologize profusely for this breach and… Read More »
Update on M&A Canyon Capital offered $12/share to acquire student loan processor Navient (NAVI), but the student loan servicing company’s management forcefully and publicly rejected the proposal. Basically, management felt the offer undervalued the company and want a bid more in the $14-15 range. Canyon was apparently surprised by the hostile tone since the offer represented a significant premium… Read More »
This summer will mark the 50th anniversary of Don Fisher opening the first Gap(GPS) store in San Francisco. That initial store opened just days after Woodstock and a month after Neil Armstrong took his small step and, it initially sold only Levi’s jeans and records. Fisher’s concept was that his store would always have every size in stock… Read More »