Mathieu Shapiro Talks About Another Potential Breakup Strategy for Ernst & Young’s Split

Obermayer managing partner Mathieu Shapiro, continues his discussion about Ernst & Young’s (EY) breakup in an interview with Bloomberg Tax. While Mathieu believes that “the split will still happen, even if it takes a different form,” he also thinks that EY might consider restructuring the legal entities of its many partnerships so they could more easily be subdivided.

In the article, titled “EY Battles Internal Strife In Wake of Abandoned Break Up (1),” published on April 12, 2023, Mathieu shared that developing distinct sets of clients for each of the two businesses and rethinking how revenue from those businesses are tracked and reported are among the steps the firm might consider as it attempts another transaction.

Sweetening the deal to convince firm owners to back any future deal will also be critical, spreading out the benefits and risks among audit and advisory partners, even retired partners. Current economic conditions have also challenged that balancing act.

“Interest rates and retired partner debt and perceived future revenue streams and the overall market—all of that stuff can change all of those calculations,” Shapiro said.

Read the full article here.