恋情告急 来自对等合并的浪漫很难持久.docx

Business Schumpeter商业报道熊彼特Love on the rocks恋情告急The romance of a merger of equals rarely lasts long来自对等合并的浪漫很难持久PARIS and champagne. What better way to celebrate an engagement?巴黎和香槟。还有比这更好的庆祝订婚的方法吗？But that was last July.但是这是去年六月的情况。On May 9th a terse joint statement from their bosses confirmed that Publicis and Omnicom, two advertising giants, would not be getting married after all.五月九号，Publicis和 Omnicom 这两家广告巨头的老板发表简短的联合声明，称两家公司最终不会结合在一起。Instead, although they maintain a great respect for one another, the two companies have jointly decided to proceed along our independent paths.相反，尽管他们对另一方保持有相当的尊重，但两家公司一致决定沿着各自的方向发展。The only thing missing was a Gwyneth Paltrow-esque reference to consciously uncoupling.唯一欠缺的是格温妮丝·帕特罗式引用的有意识的分开。Anyone connected with the two firms should probably count himself lucky that they uncoupled before rings were exchanged.两家公司的相关人员都应该庆幸双方没有在交换戒指之后分手。Corporate marriages often go wrong, but mergers of equals—in which two firms of roughly similar size combine,合作婚姻常常步入歧路，但是两个拥有近乎同等规模的公司之间没有买家也没有目标方并以无现金易手为特征的平等合并，there is neither buyer nor target and typically no cash changes hands—account for a disproportionate share of the most notorious failures.在最臭名昭著的失败案例中占据着一个不成比例的份额。Before making a comeback as the latest merger wave gathered force, they had deservedly gone out of fashion after some disastrous couplings around the turn of the century.还没从积蓄着力量的最大的并购潮中恢复过来，这些公司在经历了世纪之交进行的一些灾难性结合后，理所当然地落伍了。When Travelers and Citibank unveiled their merger of equals in April 1998, Sandy Weill,当旅行家集团和花旗银行在1998年4月公布它们的对等合并后，这家有抱负的金融集团—花旗集团的联席执行官Sandy Weil,one co-chief executive of the aspiring financial powerhouse, Citigroup, pledged to share with his co-boss, John Reed, the lucky office fireplace he insisted on having built.承诺和他的合伙人John Reed 分享他强调已经建好的幸运办公室壁炉。There was not to be much toasting of marshmallows together.蜜月期并未持续多久。Barely a year later Robert Rubin, a former treasury secretary, was hired to make peace between the feuding couple.仅仅一年，前任财政部长Robert Rubin