Obama's inversion curbs kill Pfizer's $160 billion Allergan deal

[Sunlei]

Source: reuters


U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc agreed on Tuesday to terminate its $160 billion agreement to acquire Botox maker Allergan Plc, in a major victory to U.S. President Barack Obama's drive to stop tax-dodging corporate mergers.

The decision to end the biggest tax "inversion" ever attempted, which would have seen Pfizer slash its tax bill by redomiciling to Ireland where Allergan is registered, came a day after the U.S. Treasury unveiled new rules to curb inversions.

While these new rules did not name Pfizer and Allergan, one of their provisions targeted a specific feature of their merger; Allergan's previous history as a major acquirer of other companies. The subsequent demise of the deal allows Obama to claim a big win during his last year in office.

Earlier on Tuesday, Obama called global tax avoidance a "huge problem" and urged Congress to take action to stop U.S. companies from tax-avoiding corporate "inversions", which lower companies tax bills by redomiciling overseas.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-allergan-m-a-pfizer-idUSKCN0X21NV

[rpannier]

1. Yeah Obama

I am certain though, if rMoney, aka RobMoney had been president the result would have been the same...

[BumRushDaShow]

2. !!!!

Lots of folks in this post.

[Hoyt]

3. Obama will get no credit for this from most here.

[cstanleytech]

4. Yup and if this thread is like the typical ones on the DU currently you

will have some of the Bernie and Hillary supporters come in and start trash talking about the other candidate in some way while trying to make points for their preferred candidate.

[groundloop]

5. Well, it IS primary season.

I've been here through several primary seasons now, and your correct, that kind of behavior is very much the norm.

In any case, I hadn't even realized that the President was pushing for these types of rules. VERY good news.

[mcar]

6. K&R

[Sunlei]

7. Obama still riding that wave for us all and slams shut another door on Corporate thieves.

Going to miss him in the White House, but really happy he will be free in society soon

[FailureToCommunicate]

8. Encouraging news...especially at tax time! Sort of a twofer: stop the bad mega merger and

remind 'the little people' that corporations are always looking to slime out of their tax obligations.

THANKS Obama! (no sarcasm)

[lark]

9. Obama, who can know you?

One day you sign the TPP and make it your top priority, then the next you do this to stop the flood of tax avoidance schemes by the 1%. Which are you, Obama, the corporatist or the anti-corporatist, it's really hard to tell?

[Sunlei]

10. Australias a signer of TPP & their Gov. just made Corps lower their Drug prices.

Obama has our back and not tax dodgers backs.

[mnhtnbb]

11. I have to laugh, although I'll probably get an earful from my Republican brother

who works for Pfizer, at the wedding of his youngest son this summer.

Our parents were die-hard Republicans. I changed, my brother did not.
He is all about the money--although he wasn't always. He's an MD/PhD
and his field was Gyn oncology. He left private practice (OB-Gyn) in the Bay area of SF
to go into academic medicine in Iowa after he did a post doc fellowship in Gyn Oncology.
Worked in academic medicine--teaching/research/clinical care--for
about 15 years and then got sick of the politics and took an offer
to work for GSK outside Philly. Left them after several years and took a job
with Exelixis in San Francisco and then left them for Pfizer--based in La Jolla. Finally
back to the southern California area where we went to high school.

He travels a lot for his job--helping to develop oncology drugs--and I mean a lot.
He's one of the multi-million mile members of United's frequent flyer program.
And boy, has his family ever enjoyed perks from that. All those miles he's traveled
from work--that you and I are paying for when we buy Pfizer drugs--have bought free
tickets for his grown kids and wife (the one I don't communicate with any longer
because she was always sending me right wing e-mail crap) to travel to Hawaii
and Europe. Talk about benefits of the 1%.

So, I have to laugh. I have not wanted to go to this wedding in August in Solana Beach--where
they live now--because not only can I not stand my sister-in-law, but it's very difficult
to not talk politics and it gets us nowhere. I tried to appeal to his interests as a scientist
in 2004 to get him not to vote for Bush, and got nowhere. Four out of his five kids are
Democrats, though, and one of his four sons--the one who's getting married in August--told
me one time when he was visiting us in Chapel Hill from Baltimore where he was working
on his PhD at Johns Hopkins, that the sole reason his dad won't vote for anyone other
than a Republican is taxes. He won't vote anything other than his wallet.

So, I have to laugh. His wallet is going to take a beating with this deal being called off.
And I'll have to start working up some comeback lines for what I have no doubt will
be some critical comments in August.