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The Morning Ledger: Merger Talks Between German Banks Break Down
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The corporate headquarters of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in Frankfurt’s financial district. PHOTO: THOMAS LOHNES/GETTY IMAGES
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Good morning. The need to integrate businesses, technology and employees after a merger presents significant challenges for executives seeking to strike a deal. And, in some cases, the risks associated with the integration are considered so high that management decides against the deal, as in the case of Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG. The German banks on Thursday ended their merger talks, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank—under pressure from investors and the German government to revive themselves—last month announced they were in formal merger talks. But, in the end, the banks couldn’t come to terms on how to overcome both the challenges of integrating the banks operations and the dilution shareholders faced from any deal.
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The failure to unite the two ailing lenders is likely to unleash fresh attempts by other banks to scoop up one or both of the banks, a process that could spur the biggest reshuffling of European banking assets since the financial crisis.
Without a deal, both banks face myriad challenges, though Commerzbank is seen by many investors as the steadier of the two. Since 2016, it has cut staff and narrowed its focus to deposit-taking and commercial lending. That has helped Commerzbank boost its customer base and volume of loans to midsize German companies.
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Software company Citrix Systems Inc. said Chief Financial Officer Andrew Del Matto has resigned to pursue another opportunity in California.
The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company named Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer Jessica Soisson as interim CFO as of Wednesday and will launch a search for a new finance chief, reports CFO Journal's Tatyana Shumsky.
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The U.S. Commerce Department is scheduled to release durable goods orders data at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect orders ticked up 0.8% in March from the prior month.
Comcast Corp., United Parcel Service Inc., Hershey Co., Intel Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Starbucks Corp. and Mattel Inc. are among the companies scheduled to report earnings today.
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Earlier this month, Walgreens Boots Alliance’s shares lost 13% after the pharmacy chain missed on both sales and earnings estimates. PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER LEE/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Many U.S. companies are beating expectations this earnings season, helping push major indexes to record levels. But for those that miss, the punishment has been more severe than usual.
Messaging platform Slack Technologies Inc. is taking the next step toward going public, with plans to reveal its prospectus as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. offered to buy Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for $38 billion, launching a potential bidding war for a company that agreed earlier this month to be purchased by Chevron Corp. for about $33 billion.
Boeing Co. said it would take an initial hit of more than $1 billion on the global grounding of the 737 MAX jetliner following two fatal crashes as the plane maker suspended full-year financial guidance.
Walmart Inc. is pushing into the meat business, the latest retailer to seek greater control and profits in the steaks and rotisserie chickens that fill grocery-aisle meat cases.
Royal Bank of Scotland PLC's Chief Executive Ross McEwan has resigned after more than five years at the helm of the bank, the Financial Times reports.
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40 million
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The number of individuals that use Venmo, a digital-money transfer service app owned by PayPal Holdings Inc., making it more popular than most banks.
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An IndyMac customer knocks on the door of a locked branch after the bank was taken over by the FDIC in 2008. PHOTO: ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/ZUMA PRESS
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The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is assembling a stable of executives who could be installed in top jobs at failed banks, taking advantage of a calm spell in the business to better prepare for the next downturn.
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Oil and gas drillers had some of the highest-paid median workers in the energy and utility sectors, with one company reporting a typical worker’s pay near $200,000, according to a The Wall Street Journal analysis of annual pay disclosures by hundreds of big U.S. companies.
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Low board seat turnover is to blame for slow diversity gains across U.S. board rooms, recruiters and researchers say. New data show the average director stays in the role for more than a decade, creating few openings for new blood.
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Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg testified on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. in April 2018. PHOTO: CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
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Facebook Inc. set aside $3 billion for an expected fine from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over privacy issues, cutting into the social-media giant’s profits even as its underlying business remained strong.
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Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn was granted bail by a court in Tokyo, paving the way for him to be released as early as Thursday.
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U.K. regulators blocked the proposed merger between Walmart Inc.’s British grocery unit and rival J Sainsbury PLC citing competition concerns.
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Iran’s energy industry is taking a hit from the Trump administration’s move to curb oil exports. Above, the Persian Gulf Star gas condensate refinery in Bandar Abbas, Iran. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Asian companies that had provided a lifeline to Iran after the U.S. reimposed sanctions last year are pulling back, hurting the hobbled Iranian economy and leaving the Islamic Republic with less incentive to stay committed to a multination nuclear deal, Western diplomats say.
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The Bank of Canada held its key interest rate steady at 1.75% as it sharply lowered its growth forecast for this year and joined other global central banks in pushing the pause button on future rate increases.
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Mexico’s consumer price inflation accelerated on a year-to-year basis in the first half of April as higher costs of services like travel and recreation ahead of the Easter holiday week largely offset a drop in energy costs.
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The Bank of Japan revised its forward guidance on Thursday and pledged to keep extremely low interest rates until at least the spring of 2020, underscoring its commitment to its easy-policy stance.
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PTC Inc. named Kristian Talvitie as chief financial officer, effective May 15. The packaged software company said Mr. Talvitie will succeed Andrew Miller, who in January said he intends to step down by the end of fiscal 2019 in September.
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Mr. Miller is set to remain with PTC for a transition period. Mr. Talvitie is a veteran of the company, PTC said. He worked there from 2008 to 2016 and served in various finance roles. In 2016, he became CFO of software firm Sovos Compliance LLC. Last year he joined Syncsort, another software firm, as CFO.
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