EXPERIENCE

Rob is one of the top M&A dealmakers in the United States and has been advising companies on market-leading transactions for over 40 years as both a lawyer and an investment banker. Throughout his career, Rob has advised on the largest, most groundbreaking M&A deals, including Comcast in its $72 billion acquisition of AT&T Broadband; Time Warner Cable in its $78.7 billion acquisition by Charter Communications; Dow Chemical Company in its $130 billion merger with E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.; Time Warner in its $85.4 billion acquisition by AT&T; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in its $74 billion acquisition of Celgene; EMC Corporation in its $67 billion acquisition by Denali Holding (now known as Dell Technologies); IHS Markit in its $44 billion sale to S&P Global; Nextel in its $42 billion merger with Sprint; Viacom in its $40 billion merger with CBS Corporation; Norfolk Southern Corp. in its successful defense against a nearly $30 billion takeover bid by Canadian Pacific Railway; Sanofi-Aventis in its successful $20.1 billion takeover of Genzyme; Lucent in its $18 billion sale to Alcatel; Time in its $15.2 billion merger with Warner Communications and its successful defense against Paramount’s $10.7 billion hostile bid; Qwest Communications in its $10.6 billion sale to Centurylink; Continental Airlines in its $8.5 billion merger with United Airlines; CBS in its $5.8 billion acquisition by Westinghouse; CF Industries in successful hostile defense against $5.4 billion bid by Agrium and in its successful hostile $4.7 billion bid for Terra Industries; and Dreamworks in its formation and $4 billion spin-off of Dreamworks Animation. Rob has also successfully defended companies including Agrium, Akamai, Barnes & Noble, Cummins, General Motors and Transocean against activist shareholders.

Rob also advised Morgan Stanley in all of its landmark strategic transactions during his tenure, including in its $10 billion investment by MUFG during the financial crisis, the spin-off of Discover Financial Services and the acquisitions of Smith Barney, Solium Capital, E*Trade and Eaton Vance.

Rob is involved in numerous educational and charitable organizations. He serves on the Board of Trustees of New York University School of Law and endowed a chair professorship and is a trustee emeritus at Colgate University, where he also endowed a chair professorship.