clsteve opened this issue on Nov 15, 2007 · 354 posts
XENOPHONZ posted Thu, 15 November 2007 at 4:48 PM
Quote - > Quote - This just in... Nabisco buys Exxon.
Or maybe more like AT&T buying Michael's art supplies.
Such arrangements aren't unusual at all in today's corporate world. In fact it's becoming the accepted norm.
Companies like Mitsubishi manufacture everything from TV sets to cars to ocean-going cargo ships. American & European corporations are doing the same thing nowadays. It partially stems from the philosophy of not putting all of your eggs in one basket. There have been too many companies that did that -- and that didn't survive when the markets for their specialty products fell through (for whatever reasons). So diversification is a long-term corporate survival strategy, as well as a profit-making strategy.
Private investors are wise to do the same thing.