What Starwood’s CEO Is Telling Employees About Anbang Walking Away

The fourth round of the bidding war that emerged between Marriott International and an investor group led by Anbang Insurance Group over Starwood Hotels & Resorts seems to have ended suddenly when Anbang decided to back out of a new deal with Starwood due to "market considerations." Needless to say, the tumultuous bidding process that unfurled since March 10 has been filled with a lot of drama — the kind of drama not usually seen in either the travel industry or many modern-day mergers and acquisitions anywhere. For Starwood employees, it's been an especially confusing time and that's why executives are communicating with employees about what's happening, and filing those letters with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The CEO of Marriott wrote letters to both Starwood and Marriott employees last November, while Starwood's then-CEO Adam Aron wrote to hotel owners as well. Last week, on March 28, after Anbang made yet another unsolicited and non-binding all-cash offer for Starwood, Starwood CEO Thomas B. Mangas wrote to his employees, describing the process as "a wild ride" and saying, "We recognize we're now in what feels like triple overtime." Yesterday evening on March 31, Mangas wrote the following to all Starwood employees: