Publications

April 2015 (Revised October 2017)
Teaching Note

Buffett's Bid for Media General's Newspapers

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Annelena Lobb

On May 12, 2012, BH Media Group, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, announced an offer to buy Media General's (MEG) newspaper division for $142 million in cash and provide debt financing to the struggling firm. Reactions from investors and industry... View Details

Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Bankruptcy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Strategy; Risk Management; Executive Compensation; Cash Flow; Business Exit or Shutdown; Media; Advertising; Restructuring; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Publishing Industry; United States

June 2013 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Buffett's Bid for Media General's Newspapers

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia

On May 12, 2012, BH Media Group, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, announced an offer to buy Media General's (MEG) newspaper division for $142 million in cash and provide debt financing to the struggling firm. Reactions from investors and industry... View Details

Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Bankruptcy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Strategy; Risk Management; Executive Compensation; Cash Flow; Business Exit or Shutdown; Media; Advertising; Restructuring; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Publishing Industry; United States

05 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 5, 2018

of equity (or factor models) fail to exhibit systematic predictive power internationally, which is due in large part to functional form, rather than earnings-forecast, errors. LPV models derived using common valuation anchors such as... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

12 Jan 2016
First Look

January 12, 2016

role in determining what is and is not innovative and important—and therefore valuable—in the market. Museums, collectors, and critics also play a significant role in affecting public perception and valuation of works of art, while... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

30 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 30, 2015

corruption geographic segments, but not in low corruption segments. The net effect on valuation from sales growth and changes in profitability is close to zero. The findings are robust to a number of sensitivity tests, including analysis... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

September 2017
Case

Blackstone's Julia Kahr at the Summit

By: Paul A. Gompers, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal

In 2009, Blackstone, the New York-based alternative asset and financial services firm, committed to invest up to $750 million into Summit Materials, a new company in the aggregates sector (i.e., construction materials, such as crushed stone, sand, gravel, cement,... View Details

25 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 25

recent firm performance? Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/product/say-on-pay-qualcomm-inc-shareholders-vote-maybe-in-2012/an/114005-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 213-047 Aqua Bounty Valuation of a pre-revenue biotech company at... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 21, 2008

$1 billion valuation for the company. Three key dilemmas confronted LinkedIn, however. First, at a time when the "walled garden" model of online community building was under siege, it had to decide how far it should open its... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

19 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Should Compete for Your Privacy

valuations, those less willing to pay to avoid disclosure. Microsoft attracts high-valuation consumers. Which of these two strategies yields highest profits depends on how consumer valuations compare to disclosure revenues, that is, on... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products

11 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 11, 2009

Value: An Examination of Equity Betas and Bid-Ask Spreads Authors:Edward J. Riedl and George Serafeim Abstract Finance theory suggests that information risk—that is, the uncertainty regarding valuation parameters for an underlying... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 15, 2008

business environment or used along with any individual case. Purchase this note: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=308063 Corrections Corp. of America Harvard Business School Case 107-071 This case illustrates a comprehensive View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2025
Case

Apax Partners: Deciding Whether to Bid for Trader Corp.

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

Apax Partners’ investment committee was schedule to meet on March 21, 2011, to decide whether to invest in Trader Corporation, a Canadian classified advertising business for used automobiles with both print (magazines) and digital (website) distribution. What made this... View Details