Is J&J secretly cheering?
Guidant has suffered some serious blows (recalls of pacemakers and defibrillators) since announcing it is being sold to J&J, and it's looking more and more like J&J overpaid by offering $25.4 billion for the device company. Now the FDA has announced it will perform a thorough audit of Guidant manufacturing facilities. If the results are bad enough and reported soon enough, maybe J&J will be able to renegotiate the price or back out of the deal completely.