What next for Guidant and J&J?
Executive Summary
With the announced launch of a criminal investigation into Guidant's marketing practices by the New York State Attorney General's office and an SEC inquiry into product disclosures and Guidant's stock trading coming on the heels of the clearance of the deal by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), news reports seemed divided on whether the $25.4 billion mega-merger of Guidant Corp. and Johnson & Johnson was actually going to take place. Some industry analysts said the deal was essentially dead; others cited analysts just as certain that the deal would get done in some form or another.