Walgreen's, which has been under intense shareholder pressure to "invert" when it acquires British company Alliance Boots, is staying in the U.S.
The company has been in a lot of headlines lately had been advised by Goldman Sachs and others to move its headquarters to Great Britain to escape U.S. taxes.
Instead, the company opted to stay in America and keep its headquarters in Springfield, Illinois.
While it's good for America and Americans, Wall Street does not forgive defiance: Walgreen's stock was immediately punished, falling from $72.62 at 12:35 PM yesterday to as low as $59.90 at 7:25 AM today, a fall of 17.5%.
According to ISI, a leading independent research-driven equity sales and agency trading firm, the inversion would have added 50 cents to Walgreen's stock price by 2016 while saving the company $4 billion in taxes over five years.
Of course, those "savings" would have meant $4 billion less in revenues for the government, an amount that would have to be recouped either through additional revenues elsewhere or through more cuts in government programs - and we know which programs the GOP would target.
Whatever the reason for Walgreen's decision, I am glad they made it.