Marriott's CFO says credit-market worries shouldn't affect Starwood deal
The credit market shouldn't affect Marriott's planned acquisition of Starwood (Wall Street Journal)
Marriott CFO Carl Berquist says his company's $12.2 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide won't force the company into the high-yield debt market.
"Similarly, financing the combined companies' cash-flow needs also shouldn't be a problem, given their reliance on franchisees and partners to operate most of their hotels and resorts," The Wall Street Journal reports.
Even considering the Federal Reserve's widely expected interest-rate hike this week, Berquist told The Journal that Marriott "can get money at very attractive rates."
The acquisition will mostly involve stock, with Starwood shareholders also receiving $7.80 per share from the spinoff of its timeshare business.
These 5 actions are often overlooked by new CFOs at startups (Business Insider)
Rotem Landa, head of finance at Yotpo, explains how to quickly and effectively take charge of the financials at a startup.
While many CFOs quickly surround themselves with typical finance work, such as meeting with key personnel and joining meetings, Landa argues that five often overlooked, but practical actions should also be taken.
One of the most important things they need to do is understand industry metrics and benchmarks, since startups tend to have their own important metrics that are used to explain success in their respective fields.
"Gaming will talk about ARPU, SaaS is all about things like MRR, churn and CAC payback, ad tech focuses on margins, cash flow (future, not the one in the FS), and many, many more," Landa says.
This epic slideshow tells you everything you need to know about bitcoin and blockchain right now (Business Insider)
Magister Advisors produced a comprehensive report that shows what's happening in the world of bitcoin and blockchain startups.
The bitcoin universe is expanding as blockchain technology becomes a major player in the digital-only currency market.
Jeremy Millar, a partner at technology bank Magister, told Business Insider that blockchain is the fastest-growing industry he's ever seen. There are a huge number of startups trying to use both bitcoin and blockchain to do a variety of different things.
Once ignored by banks, those same institutions are now excited to save money and discover other benefits offered by blockchain technology.