The healthcare industry has been a fountain of dealmaking lately. Companies wanting to make acquisitions or sell businesses this year should learn from the experts.

Investors are asking more about a company’s workforce, and companies may be forced to tell them. Last fall, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed several changes to disclosure requirements for public companies, among them a provision to enhance disclosure about “human capital.” The rule has not been finalized.

Earlier this year, automotive giant Volkswagen found itself facing a regulatory investigation for the results of their diesel-emissions tests.  For some, the ensuing negative headlines would have broken the company. Not so for VW, which has embraced the opportunity to learn from the experience, protect shareholder value and position itself for even better days. Recorded at DirectorCorps’ Avoiding the Corporate Crisis Conference on December 3, 2019 at the Nasdaq MarketSite in NYC.

The efforts of President Donald Trump’s administration to force healthcare providers such as hospitals and drug makers to disclose pricing isn’t going down without a fight.

A new disclosure requirement that’s described as the most significant change to the auditor’s report in 70 years is making a difference in the internal controls at large companies, although those looking for scandal so far have been disappointed.

If history is any guide, new audit and accounting requirements such as critical audit matters (CAMs), which went into effect last year, could translate to an increase in fees.

Call it the age of the mega merger. Across industries, some of the biggest companies are joining hands and creating even bigger companies.

Kison Patel, the CEO of software company DealRoom, remembers working for a private equity firm trying to do a deal not long ago. His firm bombarded the target company with requests for information — including repetitive requests for the same information, often in Excel spreadsheets. Eventually, the seller got fed up and walked away.

Large corporations are under attack from every corner. A group of states are fighting the proposed acquisition of Sprint Corp. by T-Mobile US. The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are investigating tech giants including Facebook and Alphabet’s Google for antitrust violations. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is proposing breaking up the big tech companies.

It might seem odd that California passed the nation’s most sweeping data privacy legislation—the state is home to many companies in the tech industry, including heavyweights Facebook and Alphabet’s Google. But it turns out, Facebook and Google aren’t complaining.