Another Mega Merger Fails

Today’s business headlines screams: Alcatel-Lucent chairman, CEO to resign

And I say – “Another one bites the dust”

Mega mergers often fail to deliver value. Ever since I started watching the M&A activity, Almost all the mega mergers have failed to deliver value for the shareholders and the deal makers – the CEO of the acquiring firm is always forced to resign when the merger fails to improve share holder value.

To understand this better, just look at the history of recent mega mergers:

• HP – Compaq: Hewlett-Packard top executive ousted
  
• Daimler-Chrysler: Daimler and Chrysler to split up
  
• AOL-Time Warner: Case accepts blame for AOL-Time Warner debacle
  
• Merger of Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank fails
  
• Federated-May
  
• Wells Fargo – First Interstate
  
• AT&T – NCR

Also see:

• The Dubious Logic of Global Megamergers
• The impact of mega mergers on stock performance
• After Back-Slapping Wanes, Mega-Mergers Often Fail