CHAPTER 1
The Acquisition Game
Once upon a time, mergers were sexy. They were perfectly glamorous. Filled with flamboyant corporate raiders, junk bonds, and coercive hostile takeovers of the 1980s and the all-stock mega-deals of the 1990s internet boom, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) grabbed front-page headlines seemingly every day.
But something went wrong. And “synergy” was getting a bad name.
By the early 1990s, evidence began to emerge from prominent academics and consulting firms that a majority of deals actually hurt the shareholders of corporate acquirers, several even resulting in bankruptcies.1 In October 1995, BusinessWeek published the groundbreaking story “The Case Against Mergers,” based on research showing that fully 65 percent ...
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