Finance



Hometown Advantage? CEOs Tend to Acquire Companies in Familiar Stomping Grounds

UConn Today – Multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway bought CEO Warren Buffett’s struggling hometown newspaper. Amazon acquired Whole Foods, which is headquartered in the same state where CEO Jeff Bezos grew up and owns a home.

New research shows these deals aren’t coincidences. Companies are 2.5 times more likely to acquire firms headquartered in the state where their CEO grew up than similar firms located elsewhere, the study found.

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Coveted Class: Financial Services

Paul Gilson, director and assistant professor of in residence of finance at the Graduate Business Learning Center in Hartford on Aug. 13, 2019. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)
Paul Gilson, director and assistant professor of in residence of finance at the Graduate Business Learning Center in Hartford on Aug. 13, 2019. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

The Instructor

Associate professor-in-residence in finance, Paul Gilson grew up in the Thames River town of Gravesend, 20 miles east of London, and earned a degree in mathematics from Bristol University. His plan was always to go on to a Ph.D. “But first,” he says, “I needed a job.” So he went to work in London for KPMG, the global accounting giant. His first day at the office, stock markets around the world collapsed in the Black Monday crash of 1987, still the greatest one-day loss by percentage in Dow history. During the long recovery that followed, KPMG was kept very busy, and Gilson gained extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, a specialty of his department. “The late 1980s in London,” he says. “It was an exciting time.” Continue Reading





Combat’s Other Toll on Veterans: Increased Risk of Addiction

UConn Today – In what is described as the first study of its kind, a UConn professor has found that combat service substantially increased the risk of prescription painkiller abuse and illicit heroin use among active-duty American servicemen.

U.S. combat veterans deployed as part of the global war on terror, since 9/11, have an opioid abuse rate that is higher than servicemen who were not deployed to combat zones, the study found.Continue Reading



Married CEOs Are More Committed to Social Issues Than Non-Married Peers

UConn Today – If a company wants a leader who is committed to corporate social responsibility, it would be wise to hire a married man. Married men in the top leadership jobs typically have greater concern for their employees’ well-being, and are more accepting of diverse employees, than are their non-married peers.