SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Two massive drug companies, New York-based Pfizer and Dublin-based Allergan (maker of Botox), are discussing a merger that could end up being the biggest in a year of blockbuster combinations: The new company would have a market value of more than $300 billion.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Can American companies be embarrassed out of paying their CEOs hundreds of times what the average worker makes? The SEC wants to find out.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST -- The fifth anniversary of the landmark Dodd-Frank legislation, Congress's response to the financial crisis of 2007-08, arrives next month, prompting reflections on whether it has done what the Democratic-controlled Congress that passed it intended: Increase transparency and accountability in the banking system and — most importantly — reduce the likelihood of another crisis.

In early February, President Obama proposed a 14 percent tax on U.S. multinationals’ overseas earnings, plus a 19 percent minimum tax rate on future foreign profits. The proceeds would fix roads, bridges and other infrastructure. But this plan is contentious: "Raising taxes on our most innovative companies to fund ever greater unsustainable federal budgets is a recipe for disaster,” says Michael Faulkender, associate professor of finance and director of the Masters Program in Finance at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Smith's Faulkender to Reporters: U.S. Companies will Evade New Measures Michael Faulkender, associate professor of finance in the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, says companies will find ways around the Department of the Treasury's new measures to deter U.S.

Media Alert Michael Faulkender Addresses Tax Policy Implications; David Kass Explains Buffett's Stake COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Finance experts in the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to expand on their comments, below, covering tax policy and investing implications from the Burger King-Tim Hortons merger.  The deal involves a tax inversion by Burger King relocating to Canada and its lower -- 26.5- versus 35-percent -- corporate tax rate compared to the United States.

Media Alert: June 16, 2014Attention Business and Financial Reporters and Editors COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Faculty experts in the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to expand on comments, below, regarding Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk announcing his company will open its patented technology to competitors and European Union regulators investigating whether such major firms as Apple and Starbucks are violating EU tax law. 

September 27, 2012 & September 30, 2012

MEDIA ALERT: May 3, 2011 Business Lessons Could Hold Clues to How Bin Laden’s Death Will Impact Al Qaeda, Economy UMD’s Smith School of Business Experts Offer Insights With the 10-year U.S. manhunt for Osama Bin Laden ending in the terrorist leader’s death, the world is watching for the impacts. Lessons from business could hold clues to how the loss of the leader might impact the Al Qaeda organization and the global economic climate. Organizational Effects Professor Paul Tesluk weighs in on how Bin Laden’s death may affect the Al Qaeda organization.

Research by Michael Faulkender