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Much Hollub
Occidental Anadarko deal revisited
Executives from German automaker VW have said that they saw no evidence of forced labor upon visiting the company’s plant in Xinjiang. No offense but after the whole ‘let’s install devices to cheat on emissions tests to sell more cars’ saga, we have some trust issues.
The lowdown
✂️ GM to cut hundreds of jobs and streamline its operations.
🇨🇭 Regulator says Credit Suisse ‘seriously breached’ obligations in Greensill case.
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Credit: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Occidental Anadarko deal revisited
Oil company Occidental acquired Anadarko in 2019 in a deal valued at $55 billion, which included the assumption of Anadarko's debt.
Oil major Chevron was the first to lob a bid for Anadarko. Occidental then showed up and a bidding war commenced, driving up the price of the acquisition. Occidental prevailed when Berkshire Hathaway made a $10 billion preferred stock investment into Occidental, giving it the finance needed to close the deal.
Shareholders were unhappy with the amount of debt that was taken on to finance the deal. Activists sought to oust CEO Vicki Hollub for her perceived recklessness.
Occidental ended 2022 as the best performer in the S&P 500, and this week Hollub announced the company’s most profitable year ever, with enough cash generated to reduce the debt from the Anadarko acquisition by roughly half and increase the dividend by 38%. But was it much Hollub about nothing from activists or just blind luck? ($).
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The content we're consuming today
FT on YouTube: The business of Formula 1: inside McLaren HQ.
WSJ: At Marc Benioff’s Salesforce, It’s One Big Family—Until Trouble Hits ($).
Bloomberg: The SPAC Fad Is Ending in a Pile of Bankruptcies and Fire Sales ($).
Off-balance sheet items
Scorcese and DiCaprio acquired the rights to the book before it was even released, so you know it’s going to be good. Read an excerpt from the just released ‘The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder’ here ($).
The bottom line
Finally paid off my vodka cran from last month. God is good 🙌
— Ian (@ianfluencer)
8:48 PM • Feb 27, 2023