#acquisition

America's Test Kitchen has undergone multiple rounds of layoffs and operational shifts since its acquisition by Marquee Brands. These changes include the closure of ATK Kids and Cook's Country magazine, alongside a strategic pivot towards digital content and influencer collaborations. Company leadership asserts these adjustments are necessary for adaptation in a changing media landscape, aiming for organizational right-sizing rather than simple cost-cutting. Former employees express concerns that these shifts may dilute the brand's core mission of rigorous recipe testing. Despite these internal shifts, the company's flagship television show remains a primary driver of subscriptions.

Boston, MA

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/09/business/americas-test-kitchen-layoffs-strategy/

How much do you want to bet that Fiserv does sell to those big banks but the deal still has Fiserv operating the network. Meaning basically nothing changes other than some money. This allows the banks to bypass the regulations and Fiserv keeps doing its thing. Imagine how difficult it would be to pull Star out of Fiserv at this point, I would say a minimum of 5 years to unwind that beast.

SV was concerned and confused about the fact that 105 people voted on the Slido question...ELT will lie to our faces and call us crazy for questioning them

Quote from earnings call:

"While we continue to drive ASV growth, we are focused on capitalizing on our scale to deliver long term sustainable and profitable growth. To that end, we have launched a range of strategic projects aimed at running FactSet with greater discipline and efficiency. Sanoke outlined multiple productivity, but from an operational standpoint, I will highlight 2 items we initiated during Q3 and completed in the past few weeks. We recently rightsized certain engineering teams as we standardize how we build and run software and take advantage of AI assisted coding. Additionally, we entered into an arrangement with RepRisk to support our clients' needs as we discontinued the signals attribution service FactSet provided following the 2020 acquisition of Truvalue Labs."

Electric vehicle maker Rivian is planning to sell 75 million shares of its stock. This move is intended to raise funds for equity contributions required by a U.S. Department of Energy loan. The company is working to meet the terms of this significant energy loan. This offering represents a substantial effort by Rivian to secure necessary financing. The sale aims to fulfill financial obligations tied to federal energy funding.

South San Francisco, California

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/manufacturing-logistics/ccb-rivian-selling-shares-20260706/

https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/education/college/2026/07/07/iowa-city-based-act-sale-to-ets-follows-layoffs-losses-iowa-students-high-school-college-readiness/90823864007/

Shell has first mover advantage by selling non operated Nakika asset. This simplifies the company significantly and creates capital and capacity where it’s needed. Now BP will have Talos as a partner. Talos going to learn the hard way how slow and complex BP really operates.
Why didn’t BP sale when they had a chance?

Looks like Hudson was saved for now. Maybe they can't find a buyer yet. Mt Top has been sold.

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/big-us-banks-explore-fiserv-network-deal-wsj-reports-2026-07-06/

Remember when T as a company was an innovator of new technologies. What was T's last successful innovation? They lost that culture and were duped into spending 100's of billions in mergers and takeovers only to have to sell them for pennies on the dollar. How did the once top innovator in the world miss the AI innovation?

$1.5 billion is a lot of money, they'll have to compensate somehow.

Lessons learned from Hormuz conflict is that XOM needs secure LNG and Venture Global is the perfect fit. XOM was slow in January of 2026 where it could have bought it cheap…and most likely paid it off in short term

Lessons learned from Hormuz conflict is that XOM needs secure LNG and Venture Global is the perfect fit. XOM was slow in January of 2026 where it could have bought it cheap…and most likely paid it off in short term

Lessons learned from Hormuz conflict is that XOM needs secure LNG and Venture Global is the perfect fit. XOM was slow in January of 2026 where it could have bought it cheap…and most likely paid it off in short term

Capital One's CEO, Richard Fairbank, received $40 million in total compensation for 2025. His unique pay package does not include a traditional cash salary but is instead entirely performance-based, consisting primarily of performance share units and a one-time stock and cash award tied to the company's acquisition of Discover Think they really care about any of these post ! Nope

Hertz sells facility near Mitchell International for $4.5 million

Welcome to the layoff machine.
You are no longer in the security business. You are in the LR business.

To Astrix customers: Palo Alto Networks is in your future.

Let’s face it, without poor leadership here, they wouldn’t be:
} Ridiculous amount of offshoring
} Incompetent leadership, whether onshore or offshore
} People with H1B in Sr Mgmnt roles, bullying and laying off US Citizens

Without the psychopaths in Legal, HR and Leadership roles,
There wouldn’t be:
} Millions spent on nonsense while laying people off on a monthly basis
} Disgusting layoff packages that highly contradict what they put on Sparq
} Terrible unchecked, toxic acquisitions like OI Change Healthcare
} Bullying, harassment and intimidation of employees, former employees and providers who speak up. People are now taking to the media because if this! SAD!!!!
} Protection of several, possibly all bullies in leadership roles.

A federal bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Jasper Rubber Products. Jasper Acquisition Co. LLC purchased the company for $8.03 million. This decision allows for the potential restart of operations at the Dubois County facility. First Brands Group LLC, the parent company, previously shut down operations. The shutdown resulted in roughly 330 layoffs in April.

Jasper, Indiana

https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/bankruptcy-judge-approves-8m-sale-of-jasper-rubber-assets

XOM has sold its Australian assets to Woodside. Why would XOM announce the potential acquisition of Woodside when they are minimizing foot print in Australia? 🇦🇺

Is this a co-k block so Shell or BP don’t purchase Woodside?

Who is on to explain the North Sea SALE includes 30% India resources?

On February 15, ExxonMobil announced that the company's Huizhou Daya Bay R&D Center officially started construction in the Huizhou Daya Bay Petrochemical Park.

The Daya Bay R&D Center is ExxonMobil's second R&D center in China after the Shanghai R&D Center. The new Daya Bay R&D Center will focus on R&D activities in the fields of novel chemistry, process development and process scale-up. The center is ExxonMobil's first comprehensive R&D center equipped with pilot equipment outside the North American headquarters. It integrates product R&D and process development. It is planned to be constructed in two phases, and the first phase is scheduled to be opened in 2025.

"The construction of the Daya Bay R&D Center will further meet the growing market and technology needs in the Asia-Pacific region," said Wan Lifan, chairman of ExxonMobil (China) Investment Co., Ltd., and the R&D center will bring dozens of high-level R&D jobs , to introduce high-level chemical talents for the local area, and further strengthen international technical exchanges and cooperation. ExxonMobil has established a good strategic partnership with Guangdong Province, which will provide strong support for Guangdong to build a world-class green petrochemical industrial cluster.

ExxonMobil stated that the company has safely completed the hoisting of large heavy equipment for the Huizhou ethylene project. At present, the construction of the main factory area of the first phase project is progressing smoothly, and the supporting projects and the main factory area are advancing as planned. The start of the Daya Bay R&D Center is another important milestone since the start of construction in 2020.

The ExxonMobil Huizhou Ethylene Project is the first major petrochemical project wholly-owned by an American company in China, with a total investment of over US$10 billion, and will be constructed in two phases. The first phase of the project will build a 1.6 million tons/year ethylene cracking unit, as well as mid-downstream high-end polyethylene, polypropylene and other production equipment and supporting facilities. The production of various high-end chemical products will help reduce the import of high-performance polymers in the Chinese market rely.

ExxonMobil said the Huizhou project will produce chemicals used in packaging, automotive, industrial and consumer goods, and hygiene and personal care products. The project adopts industry-leading technology to improve energy efficiency, which is in line with the development direction of China's national petrochemical industry and will help reduce the Chinese market's dependence on imports of high-performance polymers.

https://www.echemi.com/cms/1231239.html

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/oreilly-automotive-bids-for-genuine-parts-auto-unit--bloomberg-93CH-4773945

O’Riley buying NAPA Auto.

Shell can’t drill it’s self to prosperity so it’s levers are buy Shell stock, offload marginal production, and try to buy a company with existing production. Shell needs a big move within the next 6 months.

How’s a Woodside and Shell marriage? Certainly satisfy the Asia market while reduced investment in the ME.

How’s Kosmos? Cheap and get instant gas to Europe

Barrette Outdoor Living Inc. laid off 63 workers at its Salisbury manufacturing site. The company cited revenue decline and economic downturn as reasons for the job cuts. Employees and the state received no prior notice of the layoffs. A WARN report was filed on July 1, effective immediately. Barrette Outdoor Living was acquired by Oldcastle APG in 2021.

Salisbury, North Carolina

https://amp.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article316361814.html

Congo Brands is reducing its workforce. The company will cut 28 positions. These job reductions are at its Louisville headquarters. Business changes were cited as the reason for the layoffs. This action follows Celsius Holdings' acquisition of Alani Nu.

Louisville

https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2026/07/01/congo-brands-warn-notice.html

Hotel Boulderado workers are organizing to form a union. This effort follows layoffs, reduced hours, and increased workloads. These changes occurred after AJ Capital Partners bought the hotel in March 2025. Approximately two dozen employees have lost their jobs since the acquisition. Workers cite concerns about job security and declining service quality.

Boulder, Colorado

https://boulderreportinglab.org/2026/07/01/hotel-boulderado-workers-launch-union-drive-citing-layoffs-and-cuts-under-new-ownership/

Giant Eagle officially was bought by Krogers for $1.65 billion dollars. I knew back then 10-15 years ago and I had tried warning folks. I think I made a post about it on here back then and was accused of making it up and one person even said it looks like a toddler posted it. When I began seeing Giant Eagle doing a lot of cuts and penny pinching trying to make their books look good, I knew then they were either going out of business or trying to get bought out. Then there was a lot of turnover at their corporate offices and it seemed like corporate didn’t care what went on at their stores anymore too. I knew something was going on.

Apache has been approached by several large public and a Malaysian NOC with the intent to sell or farm down Apache interest in Block 58. Given Apache is varied by TFE until first oil will TFE have first right of refusal?

Stockholders have voted in favor of the acquisition! Let the sh-t show resume and the Rifs continue.

They're spending money on real estate

Just checking in to make sure everyone remembers that media over networks was absolutely the future. It was clearly the defining strategic vision of the decade, and there was never any reason to question whether combining a telecommunications giant like ours with one of the world's largest media businesses would create enormous synergies and long term value for both customers and shareholders.

The Time Warner acquisition was a masterclass in strategic acquisition. The strategy worked flawlessly, shareholder value soared, and the industry has been racing to copy the playbook ever since. It has become the gold standard for how transformational acquisitions should be executed. It demonstrates how 2 large companies can great enormous synergies when they come together. The only thing acquired faster than Time Warner was our confidence.

In addition PE Firm acquiring Wireless Maritime(Cruise Ships)

They buy a company for billions of dollars. They lay off all the experts that grew that company to billions of dollars and in their place put in Verizon cronies that have no clue how to run the newly acquired business. Then they are all surprised when it all fails. Buy the company, keep the experts and cash in. It’s not that hard…

Private Equity apparently putting up decent chunk of cash.

https://www.lightreading.com/network-platforms/bt-unloads-loss-making-international-unit-in-verizon-tie-up

Do we have money for this ?

PNC Bank's acquisition of FirstBank led to widespread customer issues. Former FirstBank customers reported long lines at branches and long phone wait times. Some customers experienced strange problems, including access to other people's bank accounts. One customer found her debit card registered to an old, incorrect address. PNC Bank is investigating these matters and deploying additional customer support resources.

Denver, Colorado

https://www.9news.com/article/money/consumer/steve-on-your-side/former-firstbank-customers-issues-long-waits-pnc-transition/73-59c03a40-a873-46a0-b58b-7ab5e784f42f

Buckle up
https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-bt-group-international-joint-venture

Optum is in talks with New York health systems to sell some orthopedic, general surgery and urology services.

https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/optum-weighs-sale-new-york-specialty-practices

Lots of murmurs from Oxy HQ as to direction and the possibility of some form of consolidation into the CVX umbrella. Berkshire recommends that this transaction occur before 2026 Midterms so there are no regulatory hiccups.

What do the CVX veterans think about this marriage? Certainly lots of advantages on both the GoA and Permian fronts.

How much of the Devon staff is kept from Past acquisitions? WPX for starters….