No one in United States financial and business history is as misunderstood, and under-appreciated, as Jay Gould. This article assesses Gould’s skills as a corporate executive following his distressed investment in, and subsequent managerial control of, the Union Pacific Railroad (UP). The UP...

The marketplace is frequently approached via direct head-to-head competition, which tends to drives prices to “sky-high” levels. All too often the winners in competition like this suffer from the “winner’s curse,” and its corresponding negative financial consequences. There is a better...

Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance is, as of mid-2021, a hot topic that many firms are grappling with, given an increasing level of investor and consumer focus on the sustainability credentials of their businesses, and what they are doing to improve them. For example, major...

Despite differences of opinion regarding what to include as a “top risk” today, many executives agree that 2021 and beyond will likely be a period of uncommonly broad-based risks. Given the breadth of potential exposures, an alternative way to strategically approach both the challenges and...

Purpose: Assess the value and risks of Disney's 2009 $4 billion acquisition of the Marvel Entertainment Group (Marvel) in a case study utilizing the modern Graham and Dodd valuation approach.Design/methodology/approach: Presents a detailed valuation of Marvel in 2009 drawing on previously...

On February 14, 2013 it was announced that Heinz was being taken private by Berkshire Hathaway and their Brazilian private equity partner, 3G Capital, at a price approximately 20% higher than Heinz's February 13th stock price, which was eight times Heinz's book value. These are not the kind of...

Today's executive faces a number of potential threats and opportunities which, in many ways, will help to determine who the corporate winners and losers will be in the coming years. Sixteen years ago, the United States government faced a number of threats following the tragic September 11th...

Managing financial risk has proven difficult over time as evidenced by numerous high profile failures over the recent past including and especially those experienced in the stock market crash of 1987, the financial crisis of 1997-1998 (also known as the “Asian Contagion”) and the 2007-2008...

This paper is a compilation and expansion of two earlier papers, one on systemic risk and the other on strategic risk management. Part 1 of the paper proposes a definition and assessment methodology for systemic financial risk that was inspired by systems accident research. Sociologist Charles...

Purpose: This paper profiles the leadership and Financial Strategy principles of Henry E. Singleton, Ph.D., the late founder, Chairman and CEO of Teledyne Corporation. Design/methodology/approach: The main sources of this paper are a private study prepared by Leon G. Cooperman, founder, Chairman...