After Pushback, Murdoch Abandons Fox’s Pursuit of Time Warner [DealBook]
Well, that's one media corporate juggernaut that we won't have in our lives: "Together, Mr. Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and Time Warner would have created a colossus that loomed over the industry, combining the two biggest movie and television studios in Hollywood and enabling Fox to try to challenge ESPN’s sports broadcasting dominance. It also would have melded two vastly different corporate cultures: the generally liberal Time Warner, home of HBO, and the more conservative Fox, home to Fox News."
Sprint Abandons Pursuit of T-Mobile, Replaces CEO [WSJ]
That escalated quickly: "After months of arguing that it couldn't compete effectively without a merger partner, Sprint Corp. is preparing to go it alone. The company decided Tuesday to end its pursuit of T-Mobile US Inc. in the face of stiff opposition from regulators and replace Chief Executive Dan Hesse with Marcelo Claure, a billionaire entrepreneur who is untested as a wireless operator."
British Bank Standard Chartered Faces Action, Again, by New York State [DealBook]
I guess we should give them credit for making it this long: "Two years after state and federal authorities punished the British banking giant for doing business with countries like Iran, Standard Chartered has once again landed in the government’s cross hairs for failing to weed out other risky transactions flowing through its American operations. This time, New York State’s financial regulator is preparing an action against the bank over breakdowns in a computer system that was supposed to detect transactions vulnerable to money laundering, according to people briefed on the matter."
Double Punch for 'Inversion' Deals [WSJ]
Better get on this while you can: "[O]n Tuesday, a spokeswoman confirmed that Treasury 'is reviewing a broad range of authorities for possible administrative actions that could limit the ability of companies to engage in inversions, as well as approaches that could meaningfully reduce the tax benefits after inversions take place.' The spokeswoman said legislation passed by Congress is 'the only way to fully address inversions,' but that Treasury was looking 'to at least provide a partial fix.' "
Accounting Tops List of Most Profitable Industries [AT]
20% margins! "Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services are collectively amongst the most profitable industries, according to Sageworks, a provider of financial information on privately held companies. Those services collectively had a net profit margin, on a pre-tax basis, of 19.80 percent. In contrast, legal services had a net profit margin of 17.82 percent, oil and gas extraction had a margin of 16.43 percent, commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental and leasing netted a profit margin of 16.40 percent, and dentist offices had a net profit margin of 14.89 percent. The data was for the period July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014."
PricewaterhouseCoopers on move to Larkinville [BBF]
OMP Keith Stolzenburg was thinking of the young people: " 'We’re happy to be moving to a building with a lot of amenities,' Stolzenburg said. 'The reason that we picked that space is that it offers services, period. It offers ample parking at a reasonable rate. It has a lot of services that complements the lifestyle of the average age of our employees, which is 27 years old.' "
More Than Two Million People Still Pay AOL For Internet Access [Gizmodo]
You can admit it. You're among friends.
