The CFO may not be necessary anymore
The CFO is dying. Long live the COO (VentureBeat)
Coupa Software CFO Todd Ford writes on VentureBeat that the CFO's role is changing so rapidly it might be obsolete. Now that finance chiefs need to be strategic and forward-thinking, Ford says "today's CFO is more like a COO in disguise" and having both in the org chart may be "redundant."
Yahoo hangs the 'for sale' sign (Business Insider)
The beleaguered internet giant plans to cut 15% of its staff and is "exploring additional strategic alternatives" to the four-point growth plan the company laid out in a press release on Tuesday. The announcement by chairman Maynard Webb follows Wall Street rumblings that Yahoo should sell its core internet business.
Google is showing discipline with 'moonshot' spending (Business Insider)
Google's parent company Alphabet reported fourth-quarter earnings this week and broke out numbers for the core Google business for the first time. It isn't blowing that much money on projects like self-driving cars after all - less than 10% of its capital expenditures in 2015 were for forward-looking products outside its core. Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said it had to make some "tough calls" and that there was a "disciplined envelope" across its big bets.
UPS CFO says the US consumer is saving the economy (TheStreet)
UPS CFO Richard Peretz told TheStreet that despite a slowdown, American consumers are still driving the economy. "What we are seeing at UPS is the same thing everyone else is seeing - while industrial production is weak and expected to see low growth in the first quarter, you are seeing the US consumer save the economy right now." The shipping company said 60% of its packages were delivered straight to consumers in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Bridgewater CEO Ray Dalio had an amazing reaction to an employee calling him out on a mistake (Business Insider)
The hedge fund billionaire hates groupthink and goes to unusual lengths to make sure employees share their honest opinions. When an employee emailed him to bluntly criticize his poor behavior in a meeting, Dalio didn't get defensive. He asked others at the meeting what they thought and then forwarded the thread to the whole company, so everyone could see.