Sweet Deals: Bulk Up, Then Break Up

摘要

This is a pop quiz: is it better for companies to grow bigger and more diversified, or for them to shrink and get lean and mean and focused? If you're a Wall Street investment banker, things are good either way. At least they're good for you. You get paid to put companies together, then you get paid again to split them up. It's a wonderful life. On Wall Street, you see, breaking up isn't hard to do. Neither is hooking up. Whether your company wants to expand by acquiring other companies when that's trendy, or decides to split itself up when "pure plays" come into fashion, the Street is happy to tell you how brilliant your strategy is. Either way, you end up paying the fat advisory fees that keep investment bankers living in the style to which so many of us would love to become accustomed.