:::OshnSoul:::

This is the closest to the Great Depression for the U.S.

All of these companies are merging, and the funny thing is, all of them we have family members who work for them or we are using for services.
-We have AT&T wireless service. AT&T wireless folded and was bought out by Verizon.
-My mother-in-law works for Airborne Express, which was bought out by DHL. She is one of the lucky few who is not getting laid off.
-My husband worked for a construction co. who also folded and merged with another co. Many from the old co. have lost their jobs- although he switched co.'s just before the merge, he has not worked since Dec. and has decided not to go back, but to go to college instead.
-Bank of America was just bought out by another co. (I don't recall their name). We have our car loans through them.

What others have merged? Crazy, isn't it...........

punx1325

AT&T was bought out by Cingular. And Bank of America bought out some mid-western company. Just thought I'd strighten that out.

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Cynthetiq

the competitiveness economy is what is driving this merger mania. It's not just happening here, but also over seas. Each sector is experiencing some sort of consolidation. I'm not surprised.

It's been happening much longer than just now, it's been happening since the 80's.

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User Name

This is not something new. It has been happening since the 1800s, at least on a large scale. The first billion-dollar merger was in 1901, when Carnegie Steel was bought by JP Morgan and combined with his steel company into US Steel. People lived through mergers, and we will live through them again.

Xiomar

Did the Comcast purchase of Disney ever go through?

Aletheia

Nope. Not yet.

Cynthetiq

Comcast only offered to purchase Disney. Disney didn't even blink or consider the offer. From what I understand Comcast has pulled the offer off the table for the time being.

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Xiomar

I hope so. I hope it stays off the table

onetime2

Mergers often have little to do with the strength of the economy. Certain industries and segments of industries are more prone to merger than others. Reasons why they can make sense:

When operating efficiencies are achieved through a larger size or increased operating area

When the only available method of growth is through merger and acquisition

When one company is relatively weak or another is relatively strong based on their stock valuations and future competition can be eliminated

When a company faces a temporary scandal or loss of market confidence which lowers their stock price and pushes the company's valuation below what they are really worth

When an established company has little in the pipeline of new products but they have enough cash to take over someone that has future products but little going on right now

etc, etc, etc

Banking, insurance, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and many others are prime examples where mergers are commonplace.

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MSD

Wachovia bought First Union and now my checks and take a week to clear because of the routing number difference.

onetime2

You should have seen what happened when Fleet bought Summit Bank here in NJ. Somehow all (or a lot) of the titles to cars bought using loans from Summit were misplaced. My fiancee worked for an insurance company (Allstate) at this time and every time a car was totalled there were massive delays in payouts since the titles were nowhere to be found. Obviously the insurance company wouldn't pay off unless there was a title transfer.

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Cynthetiq

interesting. according to the Federal Banking Regulations it shouldn't take more than 3 days if it's an intrastate check. Out of state can be 5 business days.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/chk/19991102.asp

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:::OshnSoul:::

Oh, right. Nothing's happened yet officially for the customers.
I actually don't really care, though.


How come all of these companies are folding and being bought out then if it doesn't have to do with the economy? I don't think it just happens as a "phase". Many companies are struggling right now, and the only way to not lose overall, is to be bought out and merge.

Cynthetiq

I got my letter saying AT&T is changing and we hope to bring you better service with Cingular...

blah propaganda

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ratbastid

Let's hear it for AOL/Time Warner! Yaaaay...thud.

Cynthetiq

AOL/TW leave something to be desired, but some have gone well, ABC/Disney has been pretty rocky.

Viacom/CBS has been very good, in fact CBS turned from 3rd to 1st or at least competitive for 1st.

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