Unboxing the China Trade
The containerboard boom with China changed American manufacturing. Its reversal may change it again. For most Americans, the economic relationship between the United States and China did not begin with…
Kimberly-Clark’s Perilous Courtship With Tylenol’s Legal Fallout
There are moments in corporate history when a board, entrusted with the stewardship of a venerable institution, appears determined to test the tensile strength of shareholder patience. Kimberly-Clark’s eagerness to…
How China Accidentally Built America’s Most Disruptive Boxmaker
The U.S. went from shipping boxes to China… to shipping them to Pratt. For most of the late 20th century, the U.S. paper and packaging industry resembled an old, well-run…
The Icahn-Style Broadside: Time to Finish What the Smurfit–WestRock Merger Started
Let’s stop dancing around it and say what everyone in the market is thinking: the Smurfit–WestRock merger wasn’t the problem. In fact, it was a smart, strategic move. It eliminated…
Smurfit WestRock: A Bloated Giant That Can Double Its Stock If It Stops Acting Like a Jobs Program
Every industry has one company that everyone whispers about but no one calls out directly. In packaging, that company is Smurfit WestRock — a bloated, sluggish, overbuilt behemoth that has…
The Transatlantic Campaign: Napoleon’s Playbook for Smurfit–Westrock–Mondi
Smurfit WestRock should sell its U.S. solid bleached sulfate asset to better focus on building a transatlantic packaging platform. The proposed merger with Mondi addresses European market fit and enhances…
“Sue the Forest Lords: Why Metsä Board Belongs in a U.S. Courtroom”
There’s a scam hiding in plain sight in Finland. Metsä Board, a paperboard company with mills worth billions, tells the world it’s a paragon of “sustainability.” It flaunts its Environmental,…
Clearwater’s Utilization Hangover: When 83% Feels Like Rock Bottom
The Dream That Collided with Math Clearwater Paper loves to tell you it’s the independent giant killer of North American paperboard. The numbers sound heroic: 14% share of a 10…
Smurfit WestRock’s Next Great Leap: From Debt to China’s Box Boom
Sometimes you don’t just trim the fat. Sometimes you swing the axe. For Smurfit WestRock, that moment is right now. This is the world’s biggest packaging company. It was born…
Sappi Is Stuck in 1985. Mondi Is the DeLorean.
The paper maker is trapped in a bygone era of glossy magazines and catalogs. Only Mondi has the horsepower to take it back to the future. Sappi today looks like…