In early October, WeWork’s board of directors trickled into a brick building in lower Manhattan where the startup had an office. After they took their seats around the conference room table, Mark Schwartz started to vent.

“I’ve stayed silent too long,” the 65-year-old former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner told the six other men on the board, including WeWork’s co-founder and chairman, Adam Neumann.

Mr....

In this special holiday episode, Blackstone President Jon Gray introduces his big idea to make the firm even better. What could go wrong?If you missed last year's holiday video, watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQYGr...

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Activist investor Starboard Value LP has privately nominated a majority slate of directors at Mednax Inc. and is pushing the healthcare-services company to sell all or part of itself, according to people familiar with the matter.

Starboard, which has taken a sizable stake in Mednax, submitted the slate ahead of the company’s nomination deadline a little over a week ago, the people said. The two sides are in discussions, and should they come to an agreement, Starboard could withdraw the slate. If not, it plans to push forward with a proxy fight at Mednax’s annual meeting next year.

New York Life Insurance Co. is negotiating with Cigna Corp. to acquire a unit that sells nonmedical insurance products to employers, a deal that could be valued at as much as $6 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Novartis AG is nearing a deal to buy cholesterol-drug maker The Medicines Co. for nearly $7 billion, in an expensive bid to expand its reach in the lucrative market for heart treatments.

The pharmaceutical giant has agreed to pay $85 a share in a deal that could be announced this weekend, people familiar with the matter said.

HP Inc. rejected a $33 billion takeover offer from Xerox Holdings Corp. as too low, but the PC and printer maker made clear it is interested in discussing a deal to combine with its smaller rival.

Xerox’s unsolicited offer of $22 a share significantly undervalues the company, HP’s board said in a public letter to Xerox Chief Executive John Visentin on Sunday. It also voiced concern about the debt a transaction would put on the combined company and said it needs more information about Xerox’s business, known as due diligence.

Still, HP said it recognizes the benefits of consolidation and is “open to exploring a potential combination with Xerox.”

Hong Kong’s leader said her government won’t yield to violence after one of the bloodiest days of unrest left two people critically injured—a protester who was shot by police and a man set on fire after arguing with demonstrators.