In case you missed it, Restaurant Brand Internationals‘ recent acquisition of Popeyes’ for 1.8 billion has went viral in the news. This has caused many of their loyalists to be left with confusion. Will their menu change? who knows? With this announcement, we took it upon ourselves to find the 8 largest company acquisitions ever. This list may surprise you and include some of the companies that you would have never expected. Although we know Popeyes’ is now under new management, we can only hope for the future.
1. 2006 – $86 billion – Bell South & AT&T
Originally born on the same American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Bell South and AT&T shared a common history. AT&T (formerly Southwestern Bell), however, was able to make more of a go in the marketplace, enabling it to procure Bell South and eliminate the competition it represented.
2. 2000 – $89 billion – Pfizer Inc & Warner-Lambert Co
Creating the largest pharmaceutical company in America when it tied the knot with Warner-Lambert Co, Pfizer made the move solely to maintain control of the prescription drug that became one of its top sellers, Lipitor.
3. 2015 – $90 billion – Belgian-based AB InBev & UK – Based SABMiller
This merger produced the world’s largest mega-brewing powerhouse. As one entity, this company now sells roughly three out of every ten beers sold worldwide. International labels under the AB InBev-SABMiller brand include Stella Artois, Peroni, Budweiser, Fosters, Bass, Grolsch, Corona, Coors, Beck’s, Victoria Bitter, Boddington’s, and Blue Moon.
4. 2007 – $98 billion – Netherlands-based RFS Holdings BV & ABN-AMRO Holding NV
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) led a banking syndicate known as RFS and forced their London-based subsidiary, Barclays, to purchase ABN-AMRO – a deal that quickly blew up in their face as the world economy turned downward in 2008, forcing RFS to seek a future bailout from the British government.
5. 2008 – $108 billion – Altria Group Shareholders & Switzerland-based Philip Morris Intl.
Due to declining sales of tobacco in the US and multiple lawsuits for health-related issues, Altria decided to make its American presence a separate entity and paid each of their Altria shareholders a one-to-one valued stock in Philip Morris Intl.
6. 2013 – $130 billion – Verizon Wireless Inc & Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications took over the reins of Verizon Wireless from its partner, UK-based Vodafone by buying Vodafone’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless. This move made Verizon Wireless the most profitable US-based cellphone carrier – a position they still maintain today.
7. 2000 – $165 billion – Time Warner & AOL
Long known for being one of the most expensive buyouts ever, the AOL purchase of Time Warner is also known as one of the worst deals ever. When the buyout took place, the world was still running on dial-up Internet. The advent of broadband internet service brought a rapid death to dial-up, and further to AOL whose primary source of profit had been subscription service to dial-up users. Another financially devastating blow came to Time Warner when the dot.com bubble burst in 2001 and the value of tech shares imploded.
8. 1999 – $180.95 billion – German-based Mannesmann AG & UK-based Vodafone
via tumblr
The largest business acquisition in history took place when Vodafone bought out its counterpart, Mannesmann. This cemented Vodafone’s position as the world’s largest mobile carrier (at the time).
In reading through our list of the 8 biggest company acquisitions ever, you might have noticed that the fact that the majority of the largest buyouts and mergers occurred in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. Could that be because the world economy was so much better back then?
Or, perhaps it’s because today’s boards of directors are simply more cautious, having learned some painfully expensive financial lessons about buyouts based on speculation rather than solid fundamental facts and figures (read: AOL/Time Warner)?
Whichever the case, it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll witness another deal as big as the $180.95 billion Vodafone buyout of the Mannesmann conglomerate anytime soon.
Don’t forget to leave us a comment below, until next time!
