Super Mario Trips Up Neutron Jack

摘要

CEO jack welch was hanging out on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange last October when he saw "the opportunity of a lifetime." Shares of Honeywell were rising on news of a takeover bid. Just a month before his 65th birthday, the man who built General Electric on a long string of deals faxed off a $45 billion offer to buy Honeywell out from under the nose of its suitor, United Technology. Three days later Welch announced that he had decided to put off retirement for a year to make sure the purchase of Honeywell would turn GE into "the greatest company in the world." It was, he said, a "home run," a merger so fitting no trustbuster could object to its $155 billion bulk. Last week a chastened Welch announced that the deal is all but dead, a victim of European bureaucrats. "This shows," the CEO said, "you are never too old to get surprised."