Procter & Gamble

"he sold Peaudouce to Môlnlycke, a subsidiary of the huge paper conglomerate Svenska Cellulosa, for an astronomical price: nearly 2 billion francs (300 million euros). Bernard Arnault summarized this deal succinctly in his book: "We went to Sweden with one of my collaborators to sign the transaction. The night following the official signature, the hotel where we were staying caught fire. We were able to rush down to the hotel lobby in our pajamas with all our files!" The negotiation was remarkable, however. The deal had been on the market for over a year. In October 1986, the English company Smith & Nephew offered 800 million francs. Then, in January 1987, Môlnlycke outbid them with an offer of 1.5 billion francs. Not bad for a company still listed in the books for 300 million! Advised by his collaborator Christophe Mujagic, Arnault asked for 2.5 billion. The Swedes did not want to go beyond 1.7 billion. Finally, they agreed to just under 2 billion. Was it the tenacity of the businessman? Probably. Arnault was able to sell at the top of the stock market cycle. In addition, two years earlier, against the advice of his collaborators, he had decided to increase the prices of diapers to show a flattering financial result. The gamble was risky because if the major competitor Pampers (Procter & Gamble group) had not followed suit, Peaudouce could suddenly have been out of the market."

"“Events suggest this may have been the case. A few years later, Bankers Trust was successfully sued by Procter & Gamble and Gibson Greetings. Both firms charged that representatives of BT intentionally withheld and obfuscated details of a financing agreement to conceal their company’s excessive profits. The trial and its results garnered much notoriety when the court heard audiotapes of Bankers Trust representatives gleefully boasting that their clients would never understand all the ramifications of the agreements. The court agreed that “the treatment of P&G [by Bankers Trust] was not an isolated incident or a ‘garden-variety fraud, but rather part of a pattern of mail, wire,and securities fraud spanning a number of years and involving multiple victims.”"

"LensCrafters was founded in 1983 by Dean Butler, a Michigan entrepreneur, who had set his mind on changing the world of opticians. Why wait days to deliver complete glasses after the visit? Just add a lab to the store and the processing can be done immediately. The idea had come to him when he was a manager at Procter & Gamble, helping a colleague who had resigned to take over the family's optical shop. With a few television spots, he had managed to quadruple sales every month, demonstrating how backward the sector was from a commercial point of view. There were prairies to conquer, given that the American market for opticians had just been liberalized and most of the sales were covered by health insurance. Visiting the labs, he realized that the operations to make a complete pair of glasses lasted no more than twenty minutes, yet customers were made to wait for days. "It all happened by chance, I saw an incredible opportunity. How was it possible to wait weeks when you could deliver finished glasses in less than an hour?" he tells the website of the University of Michigan. Butler opens his first store in Kentucky, in the Florence shopping center, across the Ohio River, in the great suburbs of Cincinnati. The idea exploits the boom of the "malls," the new agoras of Americans, the indoor squares where they go shopping and eat fast food, where love stories are born, where grandparents are taken to cool off in summer and to warm up in winter. The concept of glasses prepared on the spot is perfect for American customers, who while waiting go to eat at McDonald's, go shopping at Macy's, or take children on the indoor colorful rides. LensCrafters was thus born, the first chain of stores that assembles your product within an hour. Butler then sold the chain to the US Shoe Corporation conglomerate, remaining CEO."

"Presented as “Your Colgate Telenovela,” Senda prohibida was a creation of Colgate-Palmolive, a company that was heavily involved in the production of radio and television programs for many years, both in Mexico and in the United States. Following the model of that country’s so-called soap operas, Colgate-Palmolive financed many of TSM’s early telenovelas. Its competitor, Procter & Gamble, soon followed suit, as did advertising agencies, which represented smaller clients and handled the production personally."

"“If you stay an actor, before long you’ll be only a memory,” he warned. “But if you become a television producer, you can be successful for the rest of your life.” It was one of the first examples of Emilio’s ability to anticipate the future. Alonso signed a contract with Procter & Gamble, one of the major sponsors of television, and as a team with the Cuban writer Caridad Bravo Adams he produced his first telenovelas, El otro and Pecado mortal, in 1960. Soon, Alonso became a notable creative force within Mexican television. He explored new themes, convinced prestigious writers to work with him (as in the 1962 historical fantasy Las momias de Guanajuato), and raised the level of production with his good taste for mounting period settings and lavishly decorating his. sets Ever the leading man, he continued accepting starring roles, but now on the small screen."

"Several times, individual managers attempted to transform Signa into a more ordinary company. Around 2015, a group led by the businessman Wolfram Keil, who had previously worked for Procter & Gamble, endeavored to modernize the company. The Zurich consulting firm Eden was hired, and an employee survey was commissioned. There was talk of leadership development and of guidelines that they wanted to establish. However, at some point, the initiative fizzled out because Benko seemed to have no interest in it."