Corporate Strategy

What if the future of restaurants isn't a single great brand, but a portfolio of great brands operating on a common platform? That's the question at the heart of Inspire Brands. Since 2018, the company has acquired Dunkin', Sonic Drive-In, Jimmy John's, and other iconic chains while building one of the world's largest franchise restaurant systems. As Inspire moves toward a potential IPO, the company is about to discover whether public investors believe in the same vision.

Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora says roughly $1 trillion of cybersecurity infrastructure was built for a pre-AI world. While that claim may sound like a vendor promoting a new spending cycle, similar warnings are coming from CrowdStrike, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and others. For boards, the more important question is not whether the number is correct, but whether the organization's governance, security, and risk frameworks are keeping pace with its AI ambitions.

When a company replaces the head of an underperforming business unit, its stock can surge even before sales or profits improve. Gap's recent leadership shake-up at Old Navy shows why investors often reward accountability, governance, and the promise of change long before a turnaround becomes reality.

Board directors expect employees to talk about pay and benefits. When employees start talking like investors, directors pay attention.

Hugging Face is not OpenAI, nor is it an open-weight AI company. Yet the privately held platform has become one of the most important pieces of AI infrastructure in the world. Its journey from chatbot startup to reported $12.9 billion acquisition target offers a timely case study in governance, strategic reinvention, ecosystem trust, and the challenges of stewarding infrastructure that much of the AI industry depends upon.

What if the most valuable company in AI isn't the one building the smartest model? Nvidia's reported $6 billion Poolside deal suggests a different vision of the future—one where ecosystems matter more than model rankings, and where the winners are determined not by who creates the best AI, but by who builds the platform everyone else depends on.

DGB Investment says Ethan Allen is an undervalued brand trapped by stagnation. Management argues the company is executing a successful long-term strategy. Investors must decide which vision defines the future.

GameStop's reported decision to reconsider its $56 billion eBay acquisition may be the most important governance development in the story so far. As Ryan Cohen explores alternatives to a full takeover, the debate has shifted from financing a massive acquisition to a more fundamental question: Does GameStop need to own eBay to create value? The answer could become a case study in disciplined capital allocation.

3M spun out Solventum to create a more focused healthcare company. Now Solventum is preparing to spin out or sell a major business of its own. Here's how shareholder expectations, corporate governance, and activist investor Trian Fund Management helped drive the company's latest strategic move.

Big companies are hiring again, even after years of predictions that artificial intelligence would reduce the need for human workers. Why? The answer may lie in a critical distinction: AI's greatest impact may not be replacing employees, but amplifying them. As workers become more productive, companies can pursue new opportunities, expand into new markets, and serve more customers. The future of work may belong not to AI alone, but to organizations that successfully combine t

Genesco’s proxy fight with the Radoff–Jumana Group tested whether an activist playbook—stake-building, governance pressure, capital allocation criticism, and board nominees—could beat a turnaround story. Shareholders chose Genesco’s Footwear First strategy, but now the company must prove the vote of confidence was deserved.

In 2010, Stripe was founded to solve a problem that PayPal hadn't solved well for developers. By 2026, Stripe had reportedly become valuable enough to help finance a $53 billion bid for PayPal itself. This is the story of how the challenger became the acquirer—and why the deal is really about owning both the merchant and consumer sides of internet commerce.

What does it take to complete a $14.8 billion global acquisition in 2026? The proposed Uber–Delivery Hero transaction offers an answer. From board negotiations and institutional shareholder support to antitrust scrutiny and third-party asset carve-outs, the deal illustrates how major M&A transactions are increasingly structured and governed.