On June 23 the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union (E.U.). Many were shocked at the outcome of “Brexit” and the markets reacted badly. The day following the vote, the pound dropped down to the lowest level against the dollar since 1985, stocks in the U.K. and U.S. fell, and on June 27 …
Tag: future demand
A Healthy Appetite – Kashi Acquires Pure Organic
Consumer demand for healthy snacks is on the rise. In 2015, sales of conventional products were mostly flat (1.6%) while sales for specialty products grew by 6% and sales for natural products grew by 12.6%. U.S. natural and organic food and beverages sales also grew by 10.7% last year. Not only are consumers more health conscious, they are also snacking …
Will Bayer Acquire Monsanto? Lessons for the Middle Market
Monsanto has rejected Bayer’s all-cash $62 billion bid, but says it is open to negotiations. A combination of Bayer and Monsanto would create the largest seed and pesticide business globally with $67 billion in sales. While you may not be creating an agricultural behemoth with your acquisition, there are a few lessons we can learn …
DSW Uses Targeted Acquisition to Expand Online and Abroad
Reflecting the growth of ecommerce, shoe retailer DSW will acquire Ebuys, Inc., the company announced on February 17. At $62 million, the acquisition may seem tiny compared to such newsmakers as Sysco’s $3.1 billion deal to acquire Brakes Group or IBM’s $2.6 billion deal to acquire Truven Health Analytics. But there are opportunities to learn …
Why You Shouldn’t Rely on Just the Internet for Information
In today’s internet age it seems like information is widely and almost instantaneously available. Just open up a web browser and type your search into Google and thousands of hits show up in less than a second. But how much of that information is accurate? Precise data is critical to every business decision, especially when …
Expedia Follows Demand for Alternate Lodging, Buys HomeAway
Expedia will buy HomeAway, a vacation rental site, for $3.9 billion. With this acquisition — its largest since buying Orbitz in 2014 for $1.3 billion — Expedia will compete more directly with Airbnb. Airbnb, through which people rent their homes to travelers, has become more popular in recent years, both with consumers looking for a …
Looking to Africa for Growth
What do you do when sales decline? If you’re Diageo, you move to Africa. Diageo, the maker of Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky, has been a global liquor powerhouse for years. However, the company’s growth has been slowing in its traditional markets of North America, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. In other words, …
The ACA and Healthcare Industry M&A: What You Need to Know
The Affordable Care Act still is impacting the healthcare industry, affecting players of all sizes from doctors’ offices, hospitals and medical device companies to large pharmaceuticals. Mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare sector have doubled over the same period in 2014. According to Reuters data through April 24, a wave of mergers produced $193.9 billion …
Forget the Competition. Think Customers.
Don’t let the competition define your external growth strategy. Instead, plan for the people who matter most ─ your customers. Let’s face it ─ we all care about what other people think, and in business that often means measuring how we stack up against the competition. While it’s important to keep an eye on competitors, …
Facebook Finds the Next “Big Thing” with Oculus Acquisition
Facebook acquired Oculus VR, Inc, a maker of virtual-reality glasses for $2 billion. This is Facebook’s second big acquisition in 2014 – it recently purchased WhatsApp for $19 billion. With these two acquisitions Facebook is expanding beyond its current social network platform by adding new capabilities and products. According to Facebook, wearable technology is the …
