The Ray-Ban Billionaire Doesn’t Like to Share
A row between the two sides of the $53 billion EssilorLuxottica merger is a shareholder nightmare. It’s hard to imagine Leonardo Del Vecchio backing off.
Mergers of equals are usually a bad idea.
Photographer: Getty Images/Getty Images EuropeA merger of equals approach to large-scale M&A “typically leads to confusion and reduces accountability, hindering integration,” McKinsey & Co. wrote back in 2011. The biggest difference between successful and unsuccessful deals is “the recognition in the former that one culture inevitably tends to dominate.”
The consultants had a point. M&A history is littered with equal partnerships that came unstuck because of clashing personalities and a lack of clear leadership. You don’t need to be a McKinsey partner to know that when you have “too many cooks” you might burn down the kitchen.