Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Focus Media Holding Ltd. (2014)

Matos, Pedro, Hrnj...

Case

Focus Media Holding Ltd. (2014)

Matos, Pedro; Hrnjic, Emir; Tu, Lianting

F-1722 | Published December 19, 2014 | 31 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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In November 2011, Muddy Waters, a U.S. short-seller fund, accused Focus Media of overstating the size of its business. Focus Media's stock price fell sharply at first but then rebounded as the company countered the attacks. In March 2012, however, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission launched its own investigation and pressured Focus Media to amend some of its filings. A few months later, CEO Jiang partnered with a group of private equity firms, to take Focus Media private in a deal valued at more than $3.7 billion?China's largest-ever buyout. In the following months, several Chinese companies followed suit and delisted from the NASDAQ. In mid-2014, the PE firms in the consortium wanted to cash out of their equity positions, and Jiang faced the difficult decision of what to do next.