The history of failed mergers

DEAL
BREAKERS

Every merger makes a promise. Some of them don't survive it. Deal Breakers investigates the biggest M&A disasters in corporate history, tracing each one back to the financial decision that doomed it. Each episode breaks down the original thesis, the warning signs everyone missed, and the missteps that turned a promising deal into a costly write-down.

Watch on YouTube Episode resources
$200B
Destroyed · AOL/Time Warner
$98.7B
Largest annual loss in US history
Weekly
New autopsy every week

Latest episode

Ep. 01 — How AOL/Time Warner Destroyed $200 Billion in 2 Years

All episodes

01
How AOL/Time Warner Destroyed $200 Billion in 2 Years
Coming soon New
−$200B
 02
Quaker Paid $1.7B for Snapple — Then Sold It for $300M
Coming soon
−$1.4B
 03
The Science of Overpayment: Why Acquirers Destroy Value
Coming soon
70–90%
 04
Sprint + Nextel: Two Companies Incompatible Before Day One
Coming soon
−$30B

What this channel is

01
The deal thesis
Why did this deal make sense on paper? Who pitched it, who approved it, and what were they betting on?
02
The warning signs
What did the SEC proxy say? How did the market price the deal? What did the analysts miss or ignore?
03
The verdict
What the evidence says. Where the deal broke down, and the decisions that got it there.