News & Press
Bloomberg – Kenvue Success Puts Pressure on Peers With Consumer Health Arms
May 18, 2023 
A strong trading start for Kenvue Inc. — the unit of Johnson & Johnson that makes brands including Tylenol — is showing similar pharmaceutical giants the benefits of spinning off their consumer health divisions.
The stock’s 23% rally in just two weeks after its $4.4 billion initial public offering on May 3 is a dramatic demonstration of investor demand for profitable businesses amid a dearth of traditional IPOs.
The success could very well drive J&J peers like Sanofi and Bayer AG to separate their consumer businesses. Kenvue’s shares are now valued at a higher earnings multiple that’s more in-line with the makers of popular household products like Colgate-Palmolive Co. and Procter & Gamble Co., indicating that there’s value to be unlocked in these businesses.
It’s a sentiment shared by Jim Osman, founder of special situations research firm The Edge Consulting Group. He considers Kenvue “an ideal example” for the trend of large companies using IPOs as a preferred route “to divest their divisions.”
The Psychology Of Investing. How To Avoid Losing.
May 1, 2023 
“The majority is always wrong; the minority is rarely right.” A lasting quote from Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. A concept I buy very much into. It’s much like the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, which states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
The principle frequently serves as a benchmark for planning, prioritization, and decision-making. Individuals and organizations can make more informed and effective decisions and concentrate their efforts in the areas that are most likely to result in meaningful results by identifying the primary elements that account for most of the outcomes. I apply this principle to most of my life, sometimes unsuccessfully, but when I do, I become much more efficient and productive. I also apply this to investing. Of course, I analyze the numbers and projections, and most, like me, can do that to a certain extent. However, what I have found over the years is that having an analytical edge isn’t enough. The market environment, technology, social media, and the availability of systems that know how companies are performing in real time, put us all at a disadvantage. As well as this, focusing on the behavioral aspect of the investment is just as, if not more, important than analytics. Concentrating on this area at the very least can limit your losses.
As the legendary investor Benjamin Graham states, “In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”
Bloomberg – J&J’s Kenvue IPO Shows Rivals How to Spin Off Profits: ECM Watch
Apr 26, 2023
The spinoff of Johnson & Johnson’s consumer health business is the latest example of conglomerates looking to unlock value as investors flock to smaller, more nimble companies in a market environment more focused on profits than revenues.
The company, which will be known as Kenvue Inc., set the price range Monday for an initial public offering that values the business at almost $43 billion based on the top end of $20 to $23.
That valuation is in line with the estimate of Guggenheim analyst Vamil Divan, while special situations research firm The Edge Consulting Group sees room for investors to profit from the offering.
“We like the IPO,” which may offer an example for Bayer AG, Sanofi and other companies looking to split off their consumer-health businesses, said The Edge CEO Jim Osman
Spinoff – What does the spinoff of parts of the company bring to the shareholders?
Apr 19, 2023 
From General Electric and 3M to Novartis and ABB to Alibaba and Vale: The trend is towards outsourcing of corporate divisions. The Market shows how the transactions affect the stock price and provides three examples.
So it’s no wonder spin-off announcements are piling up at the moment. “This has to do with the fact that the appetite for regular public openings has collapsed in the difficult stock market environment,” says Jim Osman of The Edge, an investment advisor focused on special situations.
“”Any company that wants to sell part of its shares with an IPO faces significant difficulties because investors do not want to pay a premium at the moment, as is the case in a bull market,” he adds.
Continue reading the full article…
Please note that this article is in German only.
Investors Can Make Gains As Companies Break Up. These 3 Tech Giants Are Next.
Apr 12, 2023
If you haven’t noticed, recently some of the biggest household companies are getting smaller and some are just about to become smaller. DuPont, United Technologies, IBM, and General Electric are just a few of the multi-billion-dollar corporations that have decided that the sum of their parts is greater than the whole in recent years. Kellogg, 3M Co. and Danaher are scheduled to break up later in the year too. But why this phenomenon?
Before we head down into the rabbit hole, something should be clarified. Spinoffs are the most valuable corporate action when it comes to a break-up. They are not manufactured investments like IPO’s, which are sold to the public at the highest possible price. With a Spinoff, you gain shares of the Spinoff company whether you like it or not, which throws up a range of dynamics. In fact, Spinoffs are the most inefficient way of distributing stock to the wrong people, but that creates opportunity.
Of all sectors, big tech hasn’t succumbed to breaking itself up as it chose to get larger and larger. With size come problems like regulatory scrutiny. Ultimately, several variables, such as public sentiment, political pressure, and legal changes, will determine whether large digital businesses are broken up. It may not take much to get there in the current political and social environment and if the economy takes a downturn, these Big Tech businesses will be under more pressure to act.
3M, Danaher, and Kellogg Are Spinoff Stock Plays
Apr 11, 2023 
As the three-ring circus of rising interest rates, inflation, and bank failures plays out, investors may be searching for opportunities that are less exposed to the performance of the overall economy. Corporate spinoffs and separations are worthy of consideration. Screening for attractive spins, however, is more involved than just simply eyeballing price-to-earnings ratios.
So Barron’s reached out to Jim Osman, founder of research firm The Edge, which identifies opportunities in special situations, including spinoffs, mergers, management changes, and shareholder activism. Spinoffs, in particular, have been fertile ground in the past. Osman has been tracking them for 20-plus years and found that companies involved in spinoffs beat the market in the one- and two-year periods following the spins.
CGTN Europe Global Business on 2023/3/30 – Jim Osman, The Edge Group
Mar 31, 2023 
Jim Osman, The Edge Group, joins CGTN Europe to discuss the potential value in other tech break-ups following the announcement of segment IPOs from Alibaba.
The Edge Group’s Jim Osman on Alibaba Spinoff Investment Opportunity
Mar 29, 2023 
Jim Osman, The Edge Group, joins CNBC’s “Fast Money” to discuss the fallout from the Alibaba split.
Alibaba Is Laying the Ground for a Breakup. Amazon and Alphabet Should Do the Same.
Mar 29, 2023
Alibaba Group Holding is radically shaking itself up, which is sending shares higher. Amazon.com and Alphabet , Google’s parent, may want to take note of the plan and the stock’s reaction.
Tuesday, the Chinese internet company unveiled a new organization structure. The company is arranging itself into six business units, each with an independent board of directors and CEO. The six include cloud intelligence; internet retail; mapping; transactions; logistics; and digital media, including Alibaba Pictures.
Alibaba “gives a boost and positive signal to other big tech companies that they can also explore and consider breakup of their segments to create value,” said Jim Osman, founder of The Edge Research. The Edge specializes in corporate spinoffs and corporate transactions. “If done successfully, Alibaba would stand as a great example for the conglomerates on value creation,” he told Barron’s.
Osman said that in a breakup scenario, Amazon Web Services and the rest of Amazon together could fetch about $200 in a couple of years. Amazon stock is currently a little below $100 a share and off about 50% from the record level of almost $189 reached in the summer of 2021. Alphabet (GOOGL) is also on Osman’s list of potential breakup candidates. It “faces continual antitrust scrutiny due to its role as a dominant player in the advertising market,” said Osman. He believes the company should consider spinning out YouTube first “to create value for shareholders and avoid unnecessary antitrust attention.”
Bloomberg – Alibaba Breakup Shows Global Tech Giants a Way to Unlock Value
Mar 28, 2023
A plan to split Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. into six units sent the company’s stock soaring Tuesday while introducing a potential model for global tech giants facing mounting breakup pressures.
In addition, US tech giants like Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. could be ripe for breakups due to privacy concerns and to unlock value in stock prices that are well off all-time highs, according to Jim Osman, founder of special situations research firm The Edge Consulting Group.
“This has changed the environment for looking at these big tech names that have been under pressure to do this,” he said. If Amazon separates its cloud and subscription services units, the company could deliver a breakup value that’s 70% above its current share price, Osman said. Meta’s WhatsApp and Instagram businesses are also not being valued appropriately, he said.