On this site, corporate managers have been berated for making risky acquisitions, especially at high multiples and especially when buybacks would generate strong returns for shareholders. But perhaps it's not always their fault. In an interesting find from Footnoted (a blog that you should check out if you haven't), we see that a public company was forced to make acquisitions by the mob!
The mobsters forced management to acquire companies they owned at ludicrous prices, and also forced management to hire them as high-priced consultants.
If the prosecutions are successful, might we see this defence employed by other CEOs who have destroyed value? A possible story line in the year 2015: "Microsoft's Steve Ballmer claims he bought Skype, Yahoo, Nokia and wasted tens of billions competing with Google in search due to threats at gun point."
The mobsters forced management to acquire companies they owned at ludicrous prices, and also forced management to hire them as high-priced consultants.
If the prosecutions are successful, might we see this defence employed by other CEOs who have destroyed value? A possible story line in the year 2015: "Microsoft's Steve Ballmer claims he bought Skype, Yahoo, Nokia and wasted tens of billions competing with Google in search due to threats at gun point."