PRIVATE VS PUBLIC
Stonyfield Founder Happy With New Private Owner

By April Hall

Co-founder of Stonyfield Farm, Inc., Gary Hirshberg, has long had an aversion to taking his company public so ending up in private hands again suits him just fine.

Danone announced this week the sale of organic yogurt company Stonyfield to Lactalis, a third-generation, private company owned by the Besnier family of France.

“I learned a lot in the 16 years with Danone,” says Hirshberg, who co-founded Stonyfield with Samuel Kaymen in 1983. But he looks forward to becoming part of a private company.

“Having a parent who is private means they are unmoored from those short-term pressures and therefore understand the investment necessary to make our goals,” he explains.

BEST PRACTICES

Uber Report: Board Overhaul Needed

By Eve Tahmincioglu

Faced with statistics about how one woman on a board leads to more gender diversity, an Uber director made a crack about how it actually leads to more talking.

Uber held a company wide meeting Tuesday to announced a leave of absence for the embattled CEO Travis Kalanick and to discuss the findings of a much-anticipated  report led by former Attorney General Eric Holder looking at major sexual harassment and diversity issues at the firm.

Some key recommendations from the report included appointing more independent board members and have the board oversee the company’s efforts to bolster diversity.

GOING PUBLIC

Stealthy IPO Rule Kicks In This Week

By Eve Tahmincioglu

As of this week, private companies looking to go public can do it with attention.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule allowing companies to file initial public offering (IPO) paperwork confidentially kicked in Monday and the agency's Chairman Jay Clayton sees it as a boon for public markets that have seen declines in recent years.

It could lead, he said in a statement, to “efficiency in our processes to encourage more companies to consider going public, which can result in more choices for investors, job creation, and a stronger U.S. economy."