The News
Three corporate dramas got a reboot this week.
Mondelez is taking another run at Hershey after being rebuffed for $23 billion in 2016. Hershey is worth $38 billion after its stock jumped on the Bloomberg report of Mondelez’s approach, which comes as high cocoa prices and inflation-weary consumers have hurt Hershey’s financial outlook. Cadbury, Nestlé, and Wrigley (now Mars) have all taken runs at Hershey over the years but hit resistance from the company, the trust that controls it, the local community, and the state’s attorney general, who can block a takeover.
For at least the fourth time in 10 years, Macy’s is in the crosshairs of an activist investor. A hedge fund showed up this week with a stake of unclear size and the same ideas tried by Starboard (2015), Jana (2021), and others (2023), namely that Macy’s should cut costs and sell prized real estate. Working in Barrington’s favor are an untested CEO who took over in February and an internal accounting error that raises investor concerns about who is tending the store. Working against it: For activists, taking on Macy’s has been like fighting land wars in Asia — a tempting prize that usually ends in the opponent’s retreat.
Ad giant Omnicom is back in the M&A game. A decade after its industry-reshaping merger with Publicis fell apart over ego, Omnicom is buying rival Interpublic in a deal that will create the world’s largest advertising firm by revenue and market value. It’s a bet on cost savings in an industry not known for frugality. Advertising companies still love an expense account, and their collections of brands that operate independently — Interpublic’s full name is Interpublic Group of Companies — can make belt-tightening hard. Omnicon expects annual savings of $750 million off the combined companies’ $22 billion budgets. Investors are skeptical: Shares fell more than 10% Monday.