Connect with us

Business

Home Depot’s latest deal signals a strategic shift in M&A

Published

5 months ago

on



Good morning. Retailer Home Depot has been in business for nearly 50 years, and its disciplined approach to dealmaking has contributed to its solid growth.

That’s the topic my colleague Phil Wahba explores in a new Fortune article. Home Depot, No. 24 on the Fortune 500, announced this week that one of its business units is acquiring building-products distributor GMS (Gypsum Management and Supply) for about $4.3 billion, prevailing in a bidding war. The deal follows Home Depot’s $18 billion acquisition last year of SRS Distribution (which is the entity actually buying GMS)—the largest acquisition in the company’s history.

According to Wahba, these acquisitions mark a shift in Home Depot’s strategy. In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, sales at U.S. stores open at least a year rose just 0.2%, highlighting the need for change.

“Home Depot is widely viewed as one of the most successful retailers of the last 20 years, one that has deftly leveraged a hot housing market that led to more people renovating their homes,” Wahba writes. The company now anticipates that future growth will not come solely from its 2,000 big-box stores serving DIY customers, but increasingly from large orders placed by professionals for more complex projects, such as roof repairs.

GMS, based in Georgia, operates a network of about 320 distribution centers offering wallboard, ceilings, steel framing, and other construction materials. It also runs roughly 100 tool sales, rental, and service centers for residential and commercial contractors—“all things Home Depot covets,” according to Wahba.

Home Depot has long been thoughtful about its M&A strategy, Wahba notes, a discipline that has helped it outperform archrival Lowe’s in sales growth. You can read the complete article here.

Home Depot isn’t the only major U.S. company active in M&A this year. For example, tech giant HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise) announced on Wednesday the acquisition of Juniper Networks for approximately $14 billion. “This strategic transaction accelerates our transformation to a higher-margin, higher-growth portfolio and positions HPE for long-term, profitable revenue expansion,” HPE CFO Marie Myers stated in a LinkedIn post.

The Americas led global M&A with $908 billion in deal value in the first half of 2025 (61% of the total), up from $722 billion (55%) the previous year, according to PwC’s mid-year M&A update.

Meanwhile, Bain & Company reports that some companies are not allowing tariffs—or the changed economic world order they represent—to derail M&A activity.

With disciplined dealmaking and a focus on long-term growth, many companies are positioning themselves to thrive.

The next CFO Daily will be in your inbox on Monday. Enjoy the July Fourth holiday.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Fortune 500 Power Moves

Jesus “Jay” Malave was appointed EVP and CFO of Boeing (No. 63), effective Aug. 15. Brian West, who served as Boeing CFO for the last four years, will become a senior advisor to Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg. Malave was most recently CFO of Lockheed Martin and before that held the positions of SVP and CFO at L3Harris Technologies. He spent more than 20 years at United Technologies Corporation, including serving as vice president and CFO of Carrier Corporation when it was an operating unit of UTC, and vice president and CFO at UTC Aerospace Systems.

Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition

More notable moves this week

Brian Musfeldt was appointed CFO of Stem, Inc. (NYSE: STEM), an AI-driven clean energy software and services provider, effective July 17. Musfeldt succeeds Doran Hole, who is stepping down as CFO and EVP to pursue other interests. Musfeldt returns to Stem after serving as CFO of AlsoEnergy from 2017 to 2023, where he was instrumental in AlsoEnergy’s sale to Stem in 2022. He has nearly 30 years of experience, which also includes serving as CFO of ikeGPS, a platform technology company.

Andrea Courtois was appointed SVP and CFO of Kirkland’s, Inc., a specialty retailer of home décor and furnishings, effective July 21. Courtois will succeed Mike Madden, who plans to pursue other opportunities but will remain in an advisory position until Aug. 15. Courtois brings over 20 years of financial expertise. She most recently served as VP of financial planning and analysis at Francesca’s, following tenures in financial leadership roles at La Senza, Lane Bryant, and Lands’ End.

Brad Dahms was named CFO of Jade Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: JBIO), a biotechnology company. Dahms was most recently CFO and chief business officer of IDRx, a clinical-stage oncology company. Before that, he served as CFO of Theseus Pharmaceuticals, where he guided the company’s initial public offering and sale to Concentra Biosciences. He began his career in health care investment banking, holding roles at Cantor Fitzgerald, RBC Capital Markets, and J.P. Morgan.

Pierre Revol was appointed CFO of FrontView REIT, Inc. (NYSE: FVR), effective July 21. Revol brings more than 20 years of experience. Most recently, he served as SVP of Capital Markets at CyrusOne. Before that, Revol served as SVP of corporate finance and investor relations at Spirit Realty Capital, Inc., formerly a publicly traded net-lease REIT.

Marc Grasso was appointed CFO of Kyverna Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: KYTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, effective June 30. Grasso brings more than 25 years of experience to the company. He succeeds Ryan Jones, who will move to a strategic advisor role. Most recently, Grasso served as CFO of Alector, Inc. Before that, he held the position of CFO and chief business officer of Kura Oncology.

Big Deal

Debt burden grows for rated U.S. corporations in Q1, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Total debt made up a larger share of shareholder equity in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter for both nonfinancial U.S. investment-grade and non-investment-grade companies.

The debt-to-equity ratio for the median nonfinancial investment-grade company increased by 131 basis points quarter over quarter, reaching 85.10%. Investment-grade companies are defined as those rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings. The rise in debt-to-equity was less pronounced for non-investment-grade companies, with the median ratio edging up to 117.6% from 117.5%.

Going deeper

Here are four Fortune weekend reads:

“The Mooch’s second act: Anthony Scaramucci’s improbable quest to transcend Trump and transform America” by Jeff John Roberts 

“Tesla’s sales recovery hinges on low-cost car running behind schedule—‘without a new model, things will only get worse’” by Christiaan Hetzner

“Barclays names Anne Marie Darling, who retired from Goldman Sachs in 2024, as co-COO” by Luisa Beltran

“Mastering AI at work: a practical guide to using ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and more” by Preston Fore

Overheard

“2025 so far has been an inflection year within enterprise generative AI as true adoption has begun by going from idea to scale.”

—Wedbush Securities tech analysts wrote in an industry note on Tuesday.



Source link

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Business

MacKenzie Scott tries to close the higher ed DEI gap, giving away $155 million this week alone

Published

17 minutes ago

on

December 5, 2025

By



MacKenzie Scott has arguably been the biggest name in philanthropy this year—and has nonstop been making major gifts to organizations focused on education, DEI, disaster recovery, and many other causes.

This week alone, several higher education institutions announced major gifts from the billionaire philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos—donations totaling well over $100 million. In true Scott fashion, many of these donations are the largest single donations these schools have ever received.

The donations announced this week include: 

  • $50 million to California State University-East Bay
  • $50 million to Lehman College (part of the City University of New York system)
  • $38 million to Texas A&M University-Kingsville
  • $17 million to Seminole State College

All four institutions are public, access-oriented colleges that enroll large shares of low‑income, first‑generation, and racially diverse students and function as minority‑serving institutions or similar engines of social mobility. They fit MacKenzie Scott’s broader pattern of directing large, unrestricted gifts to colleges that serve “chronically underserved” communities rather than already wealthy, highly selective universities.

Scott, who is worth about $40 billion and has donated over $20 billion in the past five years, has doubled down this year on causes that the Trump administration has cut deeply, such as education, DEI, and disaster recovery.

“As higher education, in general, works to find its way in an uncertain environment, this gift is a major source of encouragement that we are on the right path,” Lehman College President Fernando Delgado said in a statement. 

Scott also made one of the largest donations in HBCU Howard University’s 158-year history with an $80 million gift earlier this fall, and a $60 million donation to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy after Trump administration’s cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—an organization Americans rely on for help during and after hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, and floods.

“All sectors of society—public, private, and social—share responsibility for helping communities thrive after a disaster,” CDP president and CEO Patricia McIlreavy previously told Fortune. “Philanthropy plays a critical role in providing communities with resources to rebuild stronger, but it cannot—and should not—replace government and its essential responsibilities.”

Trust-based philanthropy

Scott accumulated the vast majority of her wealth from her 2019 divorce from Bezos, but is dedicated to giving away most of her fortune. She’s considered a unique philanthropist in today’s environment because her gifts are typically unrestricted, meaning the organizations can use the funding however they choose. 

“She practices trust-based philanthropy,” Anne Marie Dougherty, CEO of the Bob Woodruff Foundation previously told Fortune. Scott has donated $15 million to the veteran-focused nonprofit organization in 2022, and made a subsequent $20 million donation this fall.

Scott is also considered one of the most generous philanthropists, and credits acts of kindness for inspiring her to give back.

“It was the local dentist who offered me free dental work when he saw me securing a broken tooth with denture glue in college,” Scott wrote of her inspiration for philanthropy in an Oct. 15 essay published to her Yield Giving site. “It was the college roommate who found me crying, and acted on her urge to loan me a thousand dollars to keep me from having to drop out in my sophomore year.”



Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Netflix’s bombshell deal to buy Warner Bros. brings Batman and Harry Potter to the streamer, infuriates theater owners and the Ellisons

Published

48 minutes ago

on

December 5, 2025

By


Netflix’s agreement to buy Warner Bros. in a $72 billion deal marks a seismic shift in Hollywood, handing the streaming giant control of iconic franchises such as Batman and Harry Potter and triggering an immediate backlash from theater owners and the jilted Ellison family behind Paramount. The bombshell transaction, struck after a bidding war that ensued after David Ellison’sunsolicited bids several months ago, positions Netflix ever more at the center of the Southern California entertainment business that the Northern California company disrupted so famously decades ago.​

The deal will see Netflix acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s film and TV studios and its streaming operations, including HBO Max, in a deal with an equity value of roughly $72 billion, or about $27.75 per share in cash and stock, valuing Warner Bros. at $82.7 billion. The agreement followed a heated auction in which Netflix’s bid edged out offers from Paramount Skydance and Comcast, both of which had pushed to keep the storied Warner assets in more traditional hands.

Two days before Netflix won the bidding, Paramount hinted at its fury with a strongly worded letter to WBD CEO David Zaslav, arguing the process was “tainted” and Warner Bros. was favoring a single bidder: Netflix. Paramount called it a “myopic process with a predetermined outcome that favors a single bidder,” Bloomberg reported, although Netflix’s bid is understood to be the highest of the three.

Another angry group is theater owners, who have famously warred with Netflix for years over the big red streamer’s reluctance, even refusal to follow traditional theatrical-release practices. Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has adamantly defended Netflix’s streaming-forward distribution, saying it’s what consumers really want. At the Time 100 event in April of this year, Sarandos called theatrical release “an outmoded idea for most people” and said Netflix was “saving Hollywood” by giving people what they want: streaming at home.

Cinema United, the trade association which represents over 30,000 movie screens in the U.S. and 26,000 internationally, immediately announced its opposition to Netflix acquiring a legacy Hollywood studio. The organization’s chief, Michael O’Leary, said it “poses an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business” as Netflix’s states business model simply does not support theatrical exhibition. He urged regulators to look closely at the acquisition.

Deadline reported that other producers are warning of “the death of Hollywood” as a result of this deal. Several days earlier, Bank of America Research’s analysts had surveyed the landscape and concluded that as a defensive move, Netflix would be “killing three birds with one stone,” as its ownership of Warner Bros’ would be a daunting blow to Paramount and Comcast, while taking the Warner legacy studio out of the running. The bank calculated that a combined Netflix and Warner Bros. would comprise roughly 21% of total streaming time—still shy of YouTube’s 28% hold on the market, but far greater than Paramount’s 5% and Comcast’s 4%.

What’s known and what’s still at play

As part of the deal, Netflix will retain the studio that controls the superheroes of DC, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and HBO’s prestige brands. Other details on what will happen to the standalone streaming service HBO Max were scant, with the companies saying only that Netflix will “maintain” Warner Bros. current operations. The companies expect the transaction to close after regulatory review, with Netflix projecting billions in annual cost savings by the third year after completion.

​The deal will not include all of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to the press release announcing the acquisition, which said the previously announced plans to separate WBD’s cable operations will be completed before the Netflix deal, in the third quarter of 2026. The newly separated publicly traded company holding the Global Networks division will be called Discovery Global, and will include CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., as well as Discovery, free-to-air channels across Europe, plus digital products such as Discovery+ and Bleacher Report.  

On a conference call with reporters Friday morning, Sarandos said Netflix is “highly confident in the regulatory process,” calling the deal pro-consumer, pro-innovation, pro-worker, pro-creator and pro-growth. He said Netflix planned to work closely with regulators and was running “full speed” ahead toward getting all regulatory approvals. He added that Netflix executives were “tired” after “an incredibly rigorous and competitive process.” Alluding to Netflix’s traditional resistance to big M&A, Sarandos added that “we don’t do many of these, but we were deep in this one.”

Influential entertainment journalist Matt Belloni of Puck previewed the likely deal on Bill Simmons’ podcast on Spotify’s Ringer network (which recently struck a deal to bring some video podcasts to Netflix), and they speculated about potential problems inside Netflix that brought the deal to a head. In conversation about how defensive the move is, Belloni said Netflix is “doing this for a reason” and may have reached a “stress point” because it hasn’t been getting traction with its own moviemaking efforts after 10 years of trying. (Netflix has also been agonizingly close to an elusive Best Picture Oscar, with close calls on Roma and Emilia Perez, the latter of which was derailed in a bizarre social-media controversy.) Belloni also acknowledged the criticism that Netflix has struggled to create its own franchises, also after years of trying.

Sarandos highlighted Netflix’s homegrown franchises while announcing the deal, arguing that Netflix’s ” culture-defining titles like Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters and Squid Game” will now combine with Warner’s deep library including classics Casablanca and Citizen Kane, even Friends.

The biggest losers in the bidding war may be David Ellison and his father, Oracle co‑founder (and long-time Republican donor)Larry Ellison, whose Paramount‑Skydance empire had been widely seen as a front‑runner to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. David Ellison, has since reportedly been pleading his case around Washington, meeting Trump administration officials as allies float antitrust and national‑interest concerns about giving Netflix control of such a critical studio.

While Netflix has tried to calm regulators by arguing that a combined Netflix–HBO Max bundle would increase competition with Disney and others, the Ellisons and their supporters are signaling they will continue to press for tougher scrutiny or even intervention. Large M&A has made a big comeback in 2025 as the Trump administration has been notably friendlier to big deals than the deep freeze of the Biden administration, making this deal an acid test for just how true that is when a company with deep ties to the White House gets jilted.​

[Disclosure: The author worked internally at Netflix from June 2024 through July 2025.]



Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Elon Musk and Bill Gates are wrong about AI imminently replacing all jobs. ‘That’s not what we’re seeing,’ LinkedIn exec slams

Published

1 hour ago

on

December 5, 2025

By



The future of work as we know it is hanging by a thread—at least, that’s what many tech leaders consistently say. Elon Musk predicts AI will replace all jobs in less than 20 years. Bill Gates says even those who train to use AI tools may not be safe from its claws. And then there’s Klarna’s CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, who is even warning workers that “tech bros” are sugarcoating just how badly it’s about to impact jobs.

But according to one LinkedIn exec, that’s simply not what the data is showing. 

With hundreds of millions of workers hunting for jobs and employers posting open roles in real time, LinkedIn acts as one of the clearest barometers of what’s actually happening on the ground—and its managing director for EMEA, Sue Duke, is not buying the AI apocalypse narrative.

“That’s not what we’re seeing,” Duke revealed at the Fortune CEO Forum in The Shard in London. When asked about an AI-induced hiring slowdown she insisted that the opposite is actually true. 

“What we’re seeing is that organizations who are adopting and integrating this technology, they’re actually going out and hiring more people to really take advantage of this technology,” Duke explained. 

“They’re going out and looking for more business development people, more technologically savvy people, and more sales people as they realize the business opportunities, the innovation possibilities, and ultimately the growth possibilities of this technology.”

For the millions of job seeking Gen Zers—who keep being told that entry-level jobs are about the get swallowed by AI and that a youth unemployment crisis is well underway—the news will be a welcome surprise.

LinkedIn exec breaks down exactly what employers are looking for from new hires in 2026

For those looking to make the most of the job market’s shift, Duke says there are two key areas to upskill in.

The first, no surprise one, is AI skills. Whether that’s literacy, tooling, prompt-writing, or more technical capabilities, “we continue to see those AI skills being red, red hot in the labor market,” she said. 

With companies racing to integrate automation into products and workflows, that demand isn’t cooling anytime soon—no matter what industry you’re looking to work in. “We see a huge demand for those skills across the board, economy-wide, across all sectors, and tons of companies looking for those,” Duke added.

As AI takes over many administrative tasks, it’s putting the spotlight on job functions that bots can’t do. “Those unique human skills,” Duke said, is the second area of focus for employers. “They remain rock solid, constant at the heart of hiring desires and demands out there. They’re not going away either.”

She called out communication, team building, and problem solving, as some of those human skills that will stand the test of time: “They’re the ones to invest in.”

And ultimately, the skill employers are zeroing in on most isn’t technical at all—it’s adaptability. Bosses know the tools will change faster than job titles. What they want is someone who can change with them.

“The most important thing for job seekers to think about is the mindset that you’re also bringing to the table,” Duke concluded. 

“What employers are really looking for is that growth mindset and understanding that this technology is moving very, very quickly, and we need adaptability. Adaptability is right at the top of those most in-demand skills, so making sure you’re bringing that mindset, bringing that agility with you, that’s going to be hugely important.”



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © Miami Select.