Merger hang-ups

AT&T’s Stephenson in another tie-up row

AT& Randall Stephenson may

T chief have a few hang ups when it comes to proposing mergers.

Not only is the DOJ suing AT&T for its proposed $85 billion merger with Time Warner, but Stephenson is in the middle of another mega-merger that is incurring bigger than expected problems.

Stephenson is the lead independent director of Emerson Electric, which last week made its third unsolicited proposal since August to buy Rockwell Automation. All three offers were rebuffed.

“Emerson is a bit of a headscratcher,” a hedge fund manager told On the Money’s Josh Kosman.

The suitor is now offering $29 billion for Rockwell but missed the 2018 deadline for nominating board directors, so it cannot launch a proxy fight until 2019.

“Merger 101 says if you launch a hostile bid, you have to secure your path to win, and Emerson does not have a credible path,” the hedge fund manager said.

Rockwell is trading at $190 per share, well below Emerson’s current $218 cash and share offer. Rockwell’s share price is continuing to fall, indicating traders do not believe a deal will succeed.

Emerson, by pursuing Rockwell and failing, raises shareholder questions about its strategy, the hedge fund manager said.

Meanwhile, AT&T said when it agreed to buy Time Warner it expected the deal to close by year’s end, and now it instead seems it will be preparing to defend the merger early next year in federal court.

Stephenson in 2011 led AT&T’s effort to buy T-Mobile that was stopped by regulators, costing AT&T a $4 billion break-up fee.

AT&T declined comment, and Emerson did not return calls.

Fashionable power

Perhaps weak fashion sales for a well-known retailer could actually be good for the environment.

A power plant near Stockholm, Sweden, is using discarded clothing from the H&M chain to power an electrical plant and allow it to replace burning coal. “For us it’s a burnable material,” Jens Neren, the head of fuel supplies at the utility plant, told Bloomberg. “Our goal is to use only renewable and recycled fuels.”

While Sweden prides itself on an almost entirely emission-free power system thanks to its hydro, nuclear and wind plants, some municipalities still use fossil fuels to heat homes and offices during cold winter days.

By converting old plants to burn biofuels and garbage, the biggest Nordic economy is hoping to edge out the last of its oil and coal units by the end of this decade.e.

No support port

Adore Me, the lingerierie subscription service that was bustedbusted by the Better Business Bureauau last year with an F rating, now has to pay out a $1.3 million penalty to the Federal Trade Commission forr deceptive billing practices.

Customers whosigned up for its VIP $39.95 monthly membership program found it difficult to cancel the service and lost accrued credits they’d paid for, the FTC “Customers lostlo hundreds of dollars,” said Lingerie Addict editor and co-founder Cora Harrington, who wrote a blog piece several years ago about how Adore Me deceived customers in another way. “AdoreAdore MMe was buying lingerie from other companies” and passing it off as their own designs or those of designers, Harrington told our Lisa Fickenscher. “Adore Me’s lingerie is neither designed nor manufactured by them. It’s not designer, and it doesn’t ccome from the finest houses of aanywhere,” Harrington wrote in her post. Sophie Simmons ( pictured) — KISS’ front man Gene Simmons’ daughter — helped to put Adore Me on the map but it’s unclear whether she still models for the company. Adore Me did not respond to queries for comment.

Dud D buds

When Google uunveiled the Pixel Buds last month, it promised customers a revolutionaryart ific ia l-artificial-intelligence intelligence-experience for the low price of $159. The search giant’s rival to Apple’s AirPods would put the Google Assistant in your ear, with the added bonus ofo making you a polyglot through its live translation transl feature. What Google delivedelivered, however, was nothing short of disappointing disappointing. The Pixel Buds sound far worse than similarly pricedp earbuds, and most of their functionality gogoes out the window if you don’t ownaPixel smartphone. The live translation feature is clearly still in its infancy and not something that anyone traveling abroad could realistically rely on, our Nicowrites. In short, it’s backbac to the drawing board for