Next Big Writedown Disaster May Not Be a Mystery: Jonathan Weil
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During the technology-stock bubble of the 1990s, it would have been a compliment to say a company had the potential to become the next Hewlett-Packard Co. That same line would have a very different meaning now.
Today, if someone called a company the next Hewlett-Packard, this would probably mean it is a prime candidate to book huge losses because of disastrous acquisitions. What might such a company look like? Consider Xerox Corp.