Media

6 Most Important Things in Business Today: A Buyout of Time Inc?

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: November 16, 2017 5:19 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 6:16 am

Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) has rejected a buyout offer from Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS). Reuters reports:

Mattel’s rebuttal indicates that Margaret Georgiadis, who took over as the company’s chief executive in February, is seeking to drive a hard bargain in negotiations with Hasbro, even though Mattel’s stock has significantly underperformed that of Hasbro in the last year.

Activist Nelson Peltz won a seat on the Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) board, strengthening his hand in a fight with management.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Volkswagen and SAIC Motor will build a $12 billion electric car plant in China. It is expected to be finished by 2025.

A deal supported by the billionaire Koch brothers may allow publisher Meredith Corp. (NYSE: MDP) to buy Time Inc. (NYSE: TIME)

According to The New York Times, more and more states are trying to collect taxes from companies that sell their goods and services via Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).

A large number of Americans may face more expensive health care costs if a tax bill in Congress is passed. According to Bloomberg:

The Republican tax plans are suddenly looking a lot more like health-care bills, with provisions that may affect coverage and increase medical expenses for millions of families.

The House version of the tax bill, which President Donald Trump endorsed on Tuesday, would end a deduction that allows families of disabled children and elderly people to write off large medical expenses. The Senate plan would repeal the Obamacare requirement that most Americans carry insurance, a move that insurers promise would raise premiums in the nationwide individual insurance market.

The provisions would help offset the cost of large tax cuts for corporations and individuals. But the move has sparked a new wave of opposition from the health-care industry and others who are concerned about its impact — the same political headwinds that tanked Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act earlier this year.