Amid Whitehall's Acquisition of Equity Inns, Ties Play a Role

The following IntellectSpace Knowledge Map identifies common relationships between Goldman Sachs's Whitehall and it's acquisition target, Equity Inns.

The visual map of relationships represented by this Knowledge Map shows that Jonathan A Langer (director of Whitehall) holds board, ownership, and executive positions with Strategic Hotel Capital. Robert P Bowen, aiso sits on the board of Strategic Hotel Capital as well as Equity Inns. 

To view an interactive version of this Knowledge Map, please guide your Internet Explorer to the following URL: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=78b3fde0-3d14-48d9-a658-454ebb3629df (Firefox and Macs are not supported at this time)

GE and Pearson Deeply Tied to Dow Jones (Part 2)

In our previous NewsVisual post, we mapped GE's common relationships with Dow Jones. The current post, however, aims to map Pearson's relationships with Dow Jones.  Although the Pearson/GE consortium has disengaged from considering the acquisition of Dow Jones, this maps their mutually deep ties.

This Knowledge Map offers an illustration of how Pearson's and Dow Jones' relationship ecosystems intersect. In the middle, you can find GE, the Economist, Reuters, Time Warner, CBS, MarketWatch and Interactive Data. 

Knowledge Maps delineate relationships via color-coded lines that are interactive upon mouse hovers or clicks. For instance, blue lines represent board members, red lines denote executives, and green lines represent ownership.  For example, a green line connecting MarketWatch and Pearson can be interpreted as an equity stake in MarketWatch. Double clicking on this line will provide all supporting sources of the relationship.

To view such an interactive version of this Knowledge Map, an Internet Explorer is required to open the following URL:  http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=a22d034b-2155-4081-903f-d7186de3cf2d

GE and Pearson Deeply Tied to Dow Jones (Part 1)

Following IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps expose the depth of common relationships that GE shares with Dow Jones, in the midst of GE/Pearson's possible bid to acquire the owner of hugely popular Wall Street Journal.

As this Knowledge Map visually illustrates, common relationships among GE and Dow Jones include board positions, highest level executive positions, not-for-profit memberships, and other investment holdings - each denoted by a distrinctly colored line. (Past relationships are denoted by dashed lines)

More specifically, William B Plummer, who was a Vice President of Equity Capital Group at GE, now assumes the CFO role at Dow Jones. Rochelle B Lazarus, D Wayne Calloway, Douglas A Warner III, Ralph S Larsen, Robert W Lane, Henry H Henley Jr., Alan G Lafley, and Roger S Penske who each assume(d) highly influencial roles at GE are related to three directors of Dow Jones namely Harvey Golub, Lewis B Campbell, and Jon E Barfield through Detroit Renaissance, Greenfield Village, Henry Ford Museum, GM, Business Council, Business Roundtable, and the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

GE's current CEO Jeffrey R Immelt and it's board member Ann M Fudge are both related to David K P Li of Dow Jones through their affiliation to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

To experience an interactive version of this Knowledge Map, navigate your Internet Explorer to the following URL: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=3c609edb-7896-443d-938b-f4c35072de89

Genesco Lacks Relationships in Finish Line Purchase

After using IntellectSpace's Knowledge Maps to identify common relationship between Genesco and Finish Line, amid their $1.46 billion merger, we were surprised to find little to no common relationships between the two firms.

Only common relationships that the Knowledge Map identified between Genesco and Finish Line were Analysts that cover respective stocks, as well as former executive positions with TJX and Beatrice Co. 

This finding is a bit surprising, given that billion dollar mergers usually have board members or executives who have been well connected through third parties, to ensure that communication between them exists outside of financial advisers. Common relationships are usually a sign of post-merger management synergies, and lack of such ties can mean the opposite.

For an interactive version of this Knowledge Map, please navigate your Internet Explorer to the following URL: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=0d2eda13-b587-4dc6-b648-230f7d2d66b3

How are KKR and Blackstone Connected? Look no Further

Kohlberg Kravis Robers & Co is deeply connected to Blackstone involving mutual board seats, and executive positions. Because there were too many relationships connecting Blackstone and KKR in three degrees of separation, we've instructed the IntellectSpace product to create a Knowledge Map only of current affiliations involving board positions and executives.  The Knowledge Map has a potential of showing connections involving non-profit organization affiliations, education, family ties, industry affiliations, and many others, but showing them at once renders the maps practically unreadable when considering industry giants such as KKR and Blackstone.

The lines are also color-coded. Blue lines that connect entities on the Knowledge Map depict board memberships, whereas red lines represent executive relationships.  Some lines are dashed, signifying that the relationship is past, and other lines are thick - representing multiple relationships that bind two entities, such as an executive CEO position (red) coupled with a board Chairmanship (blue).

Understanding the Knowledge Map is easy, just follow the URL below or click on the image, to see the interactive version of the Map, and hover your mouse over each line or entity of interest.  A hover box following the mouse cursor will provide general details (position type, title, department, dates) of each relationship, but double-clicking on lines offers the supporting sources, snippets, and greater depth. Double-clicking on entities offers a tree view of that entities list of relationships available for browsing.

An interactive version of the Knowledge Map can be found here (Internet Explorer is required for proper viewing): http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=a100145a-7b4d-4c93-b597-d94ef1ebee9c

Amazon is Well Connected into Netflix - Visual Map

Following IntellectSpace Knowledge Map clearly shows Amazon's multi-tiered relationship with Netflix, primarily through former employees and board affiliations. Amid Amazon's rumored acquisition of Netflix, this map sheds some light on who may be involved in these discussions.

According to the Knowledge Map, Leslie J Kilgore was a director of Marketing for Amazon until 1999 (denoted by a red dashed line), and currently serves as a Chief of Marketing of Netflix.

Furthermore, Seattle-based Drugstore.com is deeply connected into Amazon, and its director Gregory S Stanger also sits on Netflix's board.  In addition, Amazon holds equity position in Drugstore, and both John Doerr and Jeff Bezos have sat on Drugstore's board.

Lastly, Reed Hastings, Microsoft's director, also serves as a Chairman of Netflix. The Knowledge Map shows Microsoft's deep relationship with Amazon, particularly involving Patricia Stonesifer, who is currently a director of Amazon and served as Microsoft's Senior Vice President of Interactive Media and Consumer Division.

An interactive version of this Knowledge Map is available at the following URL, via an Internet Explorer: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=dfed698d-a5bb-4503-8d5b-a0b4d0391b09

IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps use visual technologies to dynamically map business relationships involving market players. It's color-coded arrangement of lines and icons provides an 'at-a-glance' understanding of complex dealings.

Visual Map of Palm's Relationship with Elevation Partners

Using IntellectSpace Knowledge Mapping service, we were able to visually map Palm's relationship with Elevation Partners up to three degrees of separation. 

The Knowledge Map shows that John Doerr, who was formerly a board member and investor of Palm is connected to Elevation Partners through Move Inc, through his board membership, and Elevation's investment into the company. 

Other relationships that the Knowledge Map identifies involving Palm and Elevation Partners include 3Com, Apple Inc, and Fred D Anderson, a founding partner of Elevation.

To see an interactive version of this Knowledge Map yourself, follow this URL: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=1b18df59-1beb-49f2-bd0a-381a435449ef

IntellectSpace Knowledge Mapping service automatically aggregates relationships of business entities including board memberships, investments, executive position, education, and visually maps them in a color-coded fashion to facilitate insightful analysis on various market players and individuals.

TPG and Silver Lake Draw from Relationship Capital to Buy Avaya

According to the following IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps that show Avaya's common connections with Silver Lake and Texas Pacific Group (TPG), it is clear that the buyout firms' deep reach played an important role in lining up a bid for Avaya.  Interestingly, as the Knowledge Maps demonstrate, TPG provides more relationship capital in this deal than Silver Lake.

According to the Knowledge Maps, TPG shares board seats with two of Avaya's directors through Neiman Marcus Group Inc and GlobespanVirata Inc, whereas Silver Lake shares one board seat with Avaya through Veritas Software. 

Specifically:

• Jonathan Coslet (Senior Partner of TPG) assumes a board seat on Neiman Marcus Group Inc, where Paula Stern is also a director, who in turn is a director of Avaya. 
• James Coulter (Co-founder of TPG) assumes a board seat on GlobespanVirata, where Garry McGuire (Avaya's CFO) also sits as a director.
• David Roux (Founder of Silver Lake Partners) shared a board seat with Mark Leslie on Veritas Software, who in turn is a board member of Avaya.

For interactive versions of these Knowledge Maps, point your Internet Explorer browsers to the following URLs: 

Silver Lake Capital - Avaya:  http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=5c893b11-9337-4104-a7cb-51564c6ebc5d

Texas Pacific Group - Avaya: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=abb93a7c-2777-434e-b172-da8b9d27ea74

Madison Dearborn Taps Relationships to Buy CDW

The following Knowledge Map provides an interesting perspective on the relationships at play in Madison Dearborn's bid for CDW. 

The Knowledge Map reveals that Graphic Packaging/Riverwood and Cadmus were the most important "connectors" in this merger. Graphic Packaging, for example connects three board members of CDW namely Charles Ames, Martin Walker, and Alberto Cribiore to Samuel Mencoff, General Partner of Madison Dearborn.

John Edwardson, Chairman/CEO of CDW was previously on the board of Cadmus, where Madison Dearborn Partners have previously invested, and three of its managing directors have assumed board seats, including James Perry, Andrew Sinwell and Paul Finnegan.

For an interactive version of this Knowledge map, please consult the following URL using your Internet Explorer browser: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=97d4e373-c41b-4a5f-97ef-4a66021686d9