Michael S. Ringler

Veteran corporate law and M&A pro Ringler joined Skadden Arpson July 3 and wasted no time getting to work.

“I was immediately enmeshed in a deal,” he said. “Sometimes you sprint before you run.”

Ringler led the Skadden team in advising DoorDash Inc., a fast-growing food delivery platform, in its $410 million purchase of rival Caviar, owned by Square Inc. DoorDash said it would use Caviar’s network of premium restaurants to drive growth.

The acquisition fit neatly with Ringler’s move to Skadden from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati LLP after a 25-year career there. He brought DoorDash with him to Skadden. “I’d met them, but Wilson had conflict problems that went away once I’d moved,” he said. “It was a fast and furious deal as happens in this modern economy.”

Ringler explained that in a highly competitive space such as food delivery, there is intense competition for restaurants and users.

“In a consolidation like this, speed is of paramount importance, and when you are pulling a business out of a larger public enterprise, there are some complex aspects. And to do it on a holiday weekend in mid-summer is a challenge.”

The upside: “I got to see the constellation of disciplines available at my new firm,” he said. “We could quickly bring to bear tax, employee compensation and IP help as needed.”

While still at Wilson Sonsini, Ringler’s most recent prominent case involved representing software company CA Technologies in its $18.9 billion acquisition by semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom Inc., the first by dollar amount among last year’s top ten deals involving California companies. It closed Nov. 5, 2018. It was Broadcom’s first publicly announced transaction following the move of its corporate headquarters from Singapore to San Jose. That relocation followed Broadcom’s unsuccessful hostile takeover bid for Qualcomm Inc.

The fate of that failed deal was sealed when President Trump quashed it with an executive order, illustrating the multiplying pitfalls of international M&A, Ringler said. “Government reviews have become far more complex and multi-faceted,” he added. “There are national security, antitrust, taxation and privacy concerns. The business and legal aspects are complicated by the trade and tariff wars.”

Those convolutions helped propel Ringler’s leap to Skadden. “They were a big reason for my move because this firm brings expertise around the world that is unique in my career. When politics and the business community bleed together, and the ebb and flow of deals is based on optimism or uncertainty about the economy, you need a firm with a global footprint. Now, I have lots of deals in the pipeline. It’s going to be a busy fall.”

— John Roemer