The answer to the question I posit in the headline is: a strange attitude to the truth.
Take, for example, French insurance group Scor, which repeatedly denied in August 2018 to enquiring journalists (including yours truly) it held talks with Covea or Partners Re about offers about a deal for the business...
There is an interesting juxtaposition of stories/threats on the front page of the excellent business section of The Times today...
Hat tip to Bryce Elder. The FT market reporter who last year broke the story about Warren Buffett and 3G's $140 billion takeover bid for FTSE 100-listed Unilever smoked out another bid this morning. This time the flying Scotsman fleshed out Stobart's £100 million tilt at regional airline Flybe...
Hot deal scoops are thin on the ground at this time of the year but the hard working Daniel Dunkley over the at The Sunday Times still managed to dig one or two out.
Indeed, the one that caught little old Betaville's eye was Dan's piece about Unilever's interest in the Reckitt Benkiser mustard/sauce auction. Here is the link: ..
Two days on and the upper echelons of the financial media world are still picking over the carcass of the failed Kraft Heinz / 3G / Warren Buffett / Unilever deal.
Probably the best newspaper piece out there is the "tick tock" by Arash Massoudi and James Fontanella-Kahn in today's Financial Times. Here is the link in case you haven't read it:..
Below is a link to today's session with Jenny Hammond and Zak Mir - and, unsurprisingly, we spent a lot of time talking about Unilever!
http://tiptv.co.uk/potential-takeover-targets-kraft-heinz-betaville/..
Take a bow Bryce Elder, stock market reporter over at the Financial Times. The intrepid hack has just landed the M&A scoop of the year, decade or, perhaps, century with his tale this morning about Kraft Heinz's £100 billion plus takeover approach for Unilever. If you follow M&A, I'm sure you have seen the statements.
I suspect rival hacks, such as the Kleinmanator of Sky News or team Bloomborg, will have trouble topping that one. Good luck to them...