MSN Money

The 10 dumbest mergers ever

Half the fun of a big merger or acquisition is the doing of the deal. But if the folks in charge forget the other half -- managing the numbers and fitting the pieces together -- even the biggest deals can crash and burn.

By Charley Blaine, MSN Money

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FBanks
Jan 30, 2013 9:22PM
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Dish Network and Blockbuster should make list.
user533488
Jan 30, 2013 9:12PM
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Or Harry Reid and nancy pelosi 
koz42
Jan 31, 2013 9:32AM
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How about Fedex and Ups and they could call it Fedups.
I Want to Be a Clone
Jan 30, 2013 9:07PM
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Alamo and National Car Rental should have made the list. After Republic Industries purchased both companies, they began a merger process. Within a year, they merged the two car rental companies into one. They immediately got rid of administrative postitions in both companies. Then started getting rid of mid-level management positions. Very bad move to make, because both car rental agencies suffered huge business losses, since those employees were replaced by fresh-out-of-college​ 20-somethings that had no real-world experience and no working knowledge of the business. Republic also merged car rental fleets, which caused huge amounts of inventory to get lost in a deluge of paperwork. Employees of both companies had a difficult time learning the other's computer rental systems. Subsequently, both companies lost millions, stock prices bottomed out below $2. Enterprise has since taken over both car rental companies, but the damage has been done.
R D (Roddy12)
Jan 31, 2013 9:29AM
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Again, MSN didn't do its research.  Daimler wanted Chrysler only to get their greedy hands on the $6 BIllion in cash that Chrysler had at the time, and to gain ownership of some of the US markets/distribution​ centers where Daimler had not been before.  Otherwise they would have loved to shut down a US sales competior...and to take ownership of Jeep.  To say that problems at Chrysler "sopped up so much cash that Mercedes quality began to suffer" is pure malarky.  Chrysler was profitable at that time and had the cash to show it. 

R D (Roddy12)
Jan 31, 2013 9:41AM
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I can't speak for HP, but as a former employee of EDS, they did some dumb things as well.  EDS spent $millions to find a new CEO in the late 90's.  In comes Richard Dick Brown, takes over, writes a book, flies all over the world "visiting EDS locations" and writes emails to the employees in their cubicles stating that "I'm flying over South America right now...it sure is beautiful" type of garbage.  Visits their Virginia office, signs a few books, decides to leave EDS and walks away with $35M buyout.  Made the employees furious...and that's just one example.  ...and lets not forget the 10-year fiasco where EDS tried to build a system for Bank One and got nothing done.  ...and lets not forget the Navy Marine Corps project that cost the government $Billions for EDS to install desktops with "private" email gateways in ships and offices that were outdated by the time any were actually installed. 
Veteran Watcher
Jan 31, 2013 11:00AM
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I am an "ex" EDS employee and can attest to the damage that the HP buyout did.  Those of us at EDS saw a reduction in force that still goes unnoticed and unreported, for the most part.  The biggest insult was to see Ron Rittenmeyer walk away with over 40 million dollars for just making it happen.  The CEO's of HP take some of the blame for going through with the deal, but there are plenty of those on the EDS side that walked away richer for selling a bad idea.
Phlemming
Jan 31, 2013 12:29AM
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Come on!  The Lucent - Alcatel merger has to be at least as bad as those listed here.
Guy Pelham
Jan 31, 2013 12:20PM
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Are we forgetting that Chrysler was the most profitable of the Big Three immediately before the merger with Daimler? Daimler ran the company into the ground due to a lack of R and D and then pissed on the smoking ruins.
SiameseMom1
Jan 31, 2013 12:24PM
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Wasn't surprised that Sears/Kmart made this list.
elk_bull
Jan 31, 2013 3:56AM
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I'm disappointed they left out Boeing-Douglas - what a fiasco!

Original Grey Ghost 1
Jan 30, 2013 9:55PM
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democrats with liberals with socialist with communist with big unions with nbc and bias propaganda networks with Obama!
Jamie T
Feb 3, 2013 1:11PM
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I don't know which one is the worst but peanut butter merged with choclate has my vote for best.
Seattle Skeleton
Jan 30, 2013 11:29PM
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What about Microsoft's $6.2 Billion write-off of aQuantive?
cros99
Jan 31, 2013 4:48PM
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In "most" mergers, the upper management is blinded by the dollar sign.  The ones that lose the most are the employees And the customers.  The proof is in the pudding.
Leeah Trinity (Mylifeisonebigrecession)
Feb 5, 2013 6:22AM
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I worked for Kmart when they did this merger in a grand effort to get people to think this was a good idea our store manager pulled us into a meeting and asked us what came to mind when we thought of Kmart and then Sears. For the first I never had to answer out loud thank god because all I could think was Kmart was the last place on earth i would shop even though I worked there.  Second Sears was still a good place to me where I grew up knowing you needed a major appliance you went to sears, kmart ruined that... After a couple months of this merger I knew Sears and Kmart where going down... Such a Moronic Merger.
Mr Rielly
Feb 7, 2013 6:04PM
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Heres one not on the List, We were told back in 2008 that Ambev would merge with Anheuser Busch to be one huge great company. Have the photo when Brito came to Saint Louis and the Company people were clapping for him being there. Then within a year almost all were fired. This was not a Merger like we were lied too. But a hostile take over. Remember Mr Busch,(NOT ON MY WATCH)  I guess you were to busy making a line or buying a new Car for your collection. Well now Inbev gets its pay back by almost all Michelob products are down over 70%. Yes Jimmy there is a GOD!

 

fireman91
Feb 5, 2013 12:34PM
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THe Bank of America / Country Wide / Merrill Lynch was going to happen no matter what.

Former CEO Ken Lewis stood to gain a $37M bonus if the deal went thru.  He did not care about the bank or the employees, only his pocketbook.

Because of the merger, the bank needed the Government bailout. 

Then in order to obtain his year end bonus Lewis had to meet profit objectives - so  Lewis laid off 1500 employees in order to meet that commitment and get another $5m bonus.

He then retired!

 

 

 

 

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