Publications

February 2011 (Revised December 2022)
Supplement

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott

One of the leading publishers of textbooks and other educational materials for the U.S. K-12 educational instruction market has suffered a dramatic decline in sales and profits in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial market crisis and economic recession, and it now... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decisions; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Profit; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Sales; Competition; Publishing Industry; United States

January 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Restructuring at Delphi Corporation (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

Delphi Corporation, operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has filed a plan of reorganization with the court, under which a consortium of hedge funds led by Appaloosa Management will invest up to $2.6 billion in new equity. Also participating in the plan is... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment Funds; Labor and Management Relations; Auto Industry; Service Industry

01 Dec 2001
News

BOOK: Creating Value through Corporate Restructuring

by Stuart C. Gilson (John Wiley & Sons) News of major job cuts, bankruptcies, mergers, and buyouts seems to dominate the headlines these days, as... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

28 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: Feb. 28

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/812031-PDF-ENG Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. AbbottHarvard Business School Case 211-027 One of the leading... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 1995
Case

Donald Salter Communications, Inc.

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Jeremy Cott

A new CEO is hired to manage the turnaround of a family-owned newspaper publisher. In a departure from previous management, he implements a new compensation scheme that explicitly ties executive pay to market-value-based measures of firm performance. Because the... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Transformation; Asset Management; Wages; Balanced Scorecard; Family Ownership; Motivation and Incentives; Valuation; Journalism and News Industry

February 2011 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Countrywide plc

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

One of the world's leading investors in distressed companies, Oaktree Capital Management, is contemplating a "loan to own" investment in the debt of Countrywide plc, a financially troubled residential real estate agent based in the U.K. Only sixteen months earlier,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Management; Investment; Real Estate Industry; United Kingdom

August 2014 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Thomas Cook Group on the Brink (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Stuart C. Gilson and Aldo Sesia

Harriett Green, the newly appointed CEO of Thomas Cook Group, faces a daunting set of business and financial challenges at the 171-year old UK travel services company. The company has lost almost £600 million in the last three quarters; has seen its stock price fall... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Corporate Restructuring; Change Leadership; Female Ceo; Change Management; Communication Strategy; Borrowing and Debt; Cash Flow; Cost Management; Financial Liquidity; Financial Management; Executive Compensation; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Value Creation; Travel Industry; United Kingdom

August 2015 (Revised October 2023)
Case

Eastman Kodak Company: Restructuring a Melting Ice Cube

By: Stuart C. Gilson, John D. Dionne and Sarah L. Abbott

In May 2013, senior managers of GSO Capital Partners, an $80 billion credit-oriented investment firm owned by The Blackstone Group, are considering what to do next with their investment in the senior secured debt of Eastman Kodak Company. Once a great company and an... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Finance; Strategy; Investment; United States

May 1996
Case

First Capital Holdings Corp.

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Harry DeAngelo and Linda DeAngelo

The manager of a money-management firm considers whether to invest in the securities of a large, financially troubled, California-based life insurance holding company that holds 40% of its assets in high-yield junk bonds. Over the past year, the value of its portfolio... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Debt Securities; Bonds; Valuation; Investment Return; Fair Value Accounting; Financial Institutions; Insurance Industry

Find at Harvard

27 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 27

ordinary managers. In The Innovator's DNA, the authors identify five capabilities demonstrated by the best innovators: (1) Associating: drawing connections between questions, problems, or ideas from unrelated fields; (2) Questioning:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2009 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Lyondell Chemical Company

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott

Hit with an industry recession and the global financial crisis of 2008, in January 2009 LyondellBasell Industries AF S.C.A., one of the world's largest internationally diversified chemical companies headquartered in The Netherlands, placed its U.S. operations and a... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financing and Loans; International Finance; Crisis Management; Chemical Industry; Netherlands; United States

July 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Equity Restructuring at Dell Technologies: Buy Out, Buy Up, Buy In (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

In November 2018, Dell Technologies was poised to re-enter the public markets by means of a complex recapitalization that would replace an entire class of publicly-traded “tracking stock,” with new shares that would trade publicly without the need of a formal IPO. The... View Details

Keywords: Technology; M＆A; Recapitalization; MBO; Equity Issues; Private Equity Buyouts; Public Ownership; Stock Shares; Mergers and Acquisitions; Equity; Technology Industry; United States

March 2009
Supplement

Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Vincent Marie Dessain and Sarah Abbott

In mid-2007 the chairman and CEO of Eurotunnel Group, having elected to file for bankruptcy under a newly-enacted French insolvency law, awaits the outcome of a vote by creditors and shareholders. At least 50% of the shareholders must approve the plan, however they... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Law; Valuation; Assets; Investment Funds; Voting; Business and Shareholder Relations; Ownership; Outcome or Result; France

Web

Business, Government & the International Economy Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

was selected for the 2022 Books of the Year by History Today . Caroline M. Elkins : Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire (Alfred A. Knopf, 2022) was selected for the 2022 Books of the Year by... View Details

2010
Working Paper

When Do Analysts Add Value? Evidence from Corporate Spinoffs

By: Emilie Rose Feldman, Stuart Gilson and Belen Villalonga

We investigate the information content and forecast accuracy of 1,793 analyst reports written around 62 spinoffs—a setting in which analysts' ability to inform investors is potentially very high. We find that analysts pay little attention to subsidiaries about to be... View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Subsidiaries; Restructuring; Forecasting and Prediction; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Initial Public Offering; Price; Reports; Research

Read Now

April 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Supplement

Eastman Kodak Company: Restructuring a Melting Ice Cube

By: Stuart C. Gilson, John D. Dionne and Sarah L. Abbott

In May 2013, senior managers of GSO Capital Partners, an $80 billion credit-oriented investment firm owned by The Blackstone Group, are considering what to do next with their investment in the senior secured debt of Eastman Kodak Company. Once a great company and an... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Strategy; Investment; United States