The first successful hostile takeover in history was in 1922 when J.P. Morgan and Company bought the assets of the American Tobacco Company for $2 million. The second successful hostile takeover was in 1985 when General Electric bought the assets of Westinghouse Electric Company for $8.5 billion.
Oracle And PeopleSoft, 2003:
Oracle engaged in a hostile takeover of PeopleSoft, one of the biggest hostile takeovers in the software industry since IBM and Lotus. Oracle placed an unwelcome bid on PeopleSoft days after they announced their intention to acquire J.D Edwards. Oracle placed a tender worth 10.3 billion dollars after a long-drawn-out battle between the two, and the PeopleSoft management accepted the tender. ..
Kraft Foods And Cadbury, 2009:
In 2009, Kraft Foods made an offer to purchase Cadbury at 16 billion dollars. The CEO of Cadbury rejected the offer and created a defence to prevent a takeover. Almost a year later, Kraft Foods made a counter-offer of 19 billion dollars which Cadbury accepted. ..
InBev And Anheuser-Busch, 2008:
In a conflict over an offer to purchase Anheuser-Busch, Inbev threatened to lay off all the board directors of the company. After a drawn out battle, Inbev made a counteroffer of 52 billion dollars, which the shareholders accepted as a reasonable offer.
Sanofi-Aventis And Genzyme Corp, 2010:
In a 2010 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Henri Temper, the then CEO of Genzyme Corp., rejected a low value for their claims for an acquisition deal valued at 69$ per share.
Sanofi then approached the Genzyme shareholders, pitched the takeover’s value, and made an offer that was difficult to reject, valuing the company at 20.1 billion dollars. Just like that, Genzyme Corp became a subsidiary of Sanofi-Aventis.
IBM And Lotus, 1995:
In 1995, IBM made an offer to acquire Lotus at 60$ per share, a value rejected by Lotus, a then budding computer software company that had created a product called Notes. Seven days later, however, after numerous negotiations, Lotus accepted a counter-offer of 64$ per share. Part of what made the deal acceptable to Lotus was the agreement between both companies to have Lotus operate independently even after the takeover.
What Are Examples Of Takeovers That Later failed?
In 2000, AOL set its sights on the Time Warner Company. This was after it had been acquiring several companies in the previous months. The merged operations and were valued at over 300 billion dollars. The merger, however, was a failure, with AOL unable to increase revenue streams, and the gaping losses saw Time Warner demerge from AOL a year into their partnership.
Which Is The Largest Hostile Takeover Ever Recorded?
That would be Vodafone AirTouch and Mannesmann AG. Vodafone acquired Mannesmann AG in 200 after three months of a drawn-out battle against a hostile takeover. It is said that Vodafone initiated a stream of high severance payments for the management of Mannesmann to sway their vote towards the acquisition.
Vodafone successfully acquired Mannesmann at 190 billion dollars and became one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, with a market share that totals 360 billion.
Conclusion
We have learned that examples of successful hostile takeovers are not new, and while it may be challenging to execute one successfully, companies proceed to pursue them for various reasons. They can be helpful if, as a company, you are looking to increase your market share, reduce or eliminate competition, or project higher streams of revenue from a potential acquisition. To succeed, however, wisdom and negotiation power are necessary: knowing your target company and understanding how to navigate could be the difference between success and failure.
The answer to this question is complicated, as the legality of hostile takeovers depends on a variety of factors. Generally speaking, hostile takeovers are considered to be a form of corporate takeover that is motivated by the desire to control or manipulate a company’s assets for personal gain. In some cases, the takeover may also be motivated by the desire to improve the company’s competitive position.
A hostile takeover is legal as long as the board of directors or shareholders accept or reject the offer.
There are a variety of hostile takeovers, including those in which a company is taken over by its competitors, those in which a company is taken over by its own shareholders, and those in which a company is taken over by an outside party without the consent of the original owners. ..
Companies can be acquired through a proxy vote, where shareholders are approached with the terms of an offer if the board of directors has rejected it to sway their votes in favour of it. A tender is when an acquiring company makes a bid acceptable to the board, and they accept it.
