The Business Times
business-time-50
SUBSCRIBERS

Disney, Ford, Microsoft and the age of the quasi-merger

How to build a global business empire in the 21st century

google-preferred-sourceAdd BT as a preferred source
Published Wed, Apr 24, 2024 · 05:00 AM
    • Microsoft has forged partnerships with the world’s hottest makers of AI models. Such arrangements are becoming the go-to ways to enlarge a business empire as barriers to commerce rise, high interest rates continue to bite and regulators bridle at takeovers.
    • Microsoft has forged partnerships with the world’s hottest makers of AI models. Such arrangements are becoming the go-to ways to enlarge a business empire as barriers to commerce rise, high interest rates continue to bite and regulators bridle at takeovers. PHOTO: AFP

    NO FIRM is an island. All strike contracts and compete with others. Conversely, when bosses decide a particular relationship would be better governed by fiat, one firm may acquire another. Between these poles are plenty of ways for firms to combine capital, knowledge or other resources, without fully tying the knot.

    Such in-between arrangements are winning favour across the economy, from tech and artificial intelligence (AI) to carmaking and energy.

    While corporate takeovers stalled in 2023, the number of joint ventures (JVs) and partnerships jumped by 40 per cent, according to Ankura, a consultancy. They are especially popular in areas of rapid technological change and in places given to protectionism, which these days afflicts rich and poor countries alike.

    M&APartnerships

    TRENDING NOW

    Longest-serving chief minister Taib Mahmud’s legacy looms large over Sarawak as a family feud over his estate threatens to expose skeleton’s in the eastern state’s political closet.

    On the board but frozen out: The Taib family feud tearing Sarawak construction giant apart

    Thailand’s target is to export seven million tonnes of rice globally in 2026, but the Middle East war has turned the world topsy-turvy with supply disruptions, high oil prices and economic uncertainty.

    Thai and Vietnamese farmers may stop planting rice because of the Iran war. Here’s why

    Keppel chief executive Loh Chin Hua is transforming the industrial conglomerate into a global asset manager and operator.

    Are Keppel’s dividends truly unsustainable – or just misunderstood?

    The Category A COE, at S$124,790, is edging closer to its all-time high of S$128,105.

    COEs for large cars up 4.3% at S$126,236, mainstream cars near S$125,000

    Latest T-bills Treasury Bills Results & Interest NewsLatest SSB Singapore Savings Bonds NewsLatest COE Certificate of Entitlement News
    Latest Johor-Singapore SEZ NewsLatest BTO Build To Order & Sales of Balance NewsLatest STI Straits Times Index NewsLatest SGX Dividends, Share Price NewsLatest Bonds Market NewsLatest Singapore Stocks To Buy NewsLatest Singapore Economy News
    View More