5 Biggest Acquisitions Of All Time

3. AOL merger with Time Warner

Total purchase price (in billions of dollars): 182

Total purchases price adjusted for inflation (in billions of dollars): 270

Ah, the ill-fated purchase of Time Warner by AOL, which is the poster child of disastrous acquisitions and short-term strategy thinking. AOL purchased Time Warner, even though Time Warner had way more assets as well as revenues. The thinking behind this strategy was that Time Warner would be able to become part of the digital revolution and the acquisition will allow Time Warner to rocket forward and beat its competitors. As history shows, things didn’t quite work out that way. In 2002, AOL Time Warner posted a loss of $99 billion, which was the biggest loss in history at the time, and the company didn’t last long, being renamed Warner Media by 2003. Even now, the $99 billion loss is still one of the biggest losses ever made by any company in the world. Warner Media is currently owned by the biggest telecommunications company in the world, AT&T (NYSE:T)

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