Hot Topic - Media Mergers and Acquisitions
The funereal drumbeats have echoed through media houses for some time. Now the somber trumpets have joined in. Economics are sour, profit margins worst. After housing and food, consumers are cutting back on everything. Advertisers have moved to TikTok. Investors’ mood is Wagnerian.
The world of mergers and acquisitions is bigger than ever. Investors, shareholders and individuals are still fat with cash from years of easily available low or no interest financing bolstered by recurring revenues. Acquisition remains the preferred means of corporate expansion. It’s relatively cheap and easy. But bigness is not necessarily beautiful in certain quarters.
Mergers and acquisition do not, typically, bring on big changes or, especially, disruption. Shareholders want no part of that. They may not need more money but losing some is just not allowed. This is post-modern big business. Lifestyle preservation trumps everything. But mergers and acquisitions are necessary for financial refreshment, changing old money for new. Irresistible.
In many enterprises executives relish the dream of bigness. The big reward from bigness is, naturally, big money. This includes big bonuses for the executives and probably a few lawyers and accountants. Bigness also allows seeing off pesky competitors. What’s not to like?
Big mergers and acquisitions are always fodder for considerable media attention. These transactions affect workers, suppliers, bankers, lawyers and regulators, not necessarily in that order. Sometimes these are happy; change can be good, buyouts better. Sometimes they can be entertaining, like anything involving Elon Musk. Media acquisitions of a certain scale attract great attention, too; particularly those involving news channels and politically exposed individuals. Hostile takeovers always add loudness.
When mergers and acquisitions close expectations and trepidations expressed through the weeks and months beforehand are either met or shrugged off. From investors and shareholders to customers and employees there is that moment when all eyes are on the new boss and team. Usually tensions felt when a deal first comes together have been erased. Nobody likes surprises.
Size matters. Scale matters. Bigness means everything to media and finance watchers. Appearance matters, too; particularly the appearance of bigness. Top rated and top earning are always headline grabbers, now meaning TikTok. This facilitates quick movement to the next top headline. Nuance is not allowed.
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