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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
A detailed look at the worst M&A deals ever and the lessons learned from them

It's common knowledge that about half of all merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions destroy value for the buyer's shareholders, and about three-quarters fall short of the expectations prevailing at the time the deal is announced. In Deals from Hell, Robert Bruner, one of the foremost thinkers and educators in this field, uncovers the real reasons for these mishaps by taking a closer look at twelve specific instances of M&A failure. Through these real-world examples, he shows readers what went wrong and why, and converts these examples into cautionary tales for executives who need to know how they can successfully navigate their own M&A deals. These page-turning business narratives in M&A failure provide much-needed guidance in this area of business. By addressing the key factors to M&A success and failure, this comprehensive guide illustrates the best ways to analyze, design, and implement M&A deals. Filled with in-depth insights, expert advice, and valuable lessons gleaned from other M&A transactions, Deals from Hell helps readers avoid the common pitfalls associated with this field and presents them with a clear framework for thinking about how to make any M&A transaction a success.

Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Good insight into what NOT to do in a merger! July 19, 2007
Easy read, with case studies of failed mergers and acquisitions contrasted with successful M & A. Allows the reader to get a good overview of causes of failures in M & A without getting too technical.

4 out of 5 stars

Informative but sometimes organized confusingly March 3, 2007
"Deals From Hell" contains a lot of very useful information, but it is sometimes organized in ways that distract from, rather than augmenting, the material. For instance, I couldn't bring myself to buy into Bruner's metaphorical assertion that all mergers and acquisitions are local, which he uses as the foundation of a framework for evaluating "the neighborhood" in which a merger takes place. Also: while each of the case studies is interesting, some support his themes better than others. One or two of them seem out of place in this book.

The author does a great job of driving home his six factors present in most failed mergers, providing examples of each of those factors in the case studies he provides.

Don't let the criticisms keep you from reading this informative book.

5 out of 5 stars

Great analysis framework, good case studies October 14, 2006
This is a very great book. After a few chapters about the major common mistakes in M&A where he provides a framework for M&A failures, he studies a few cases i ndetail, why these M&A did not work. And he always gives a counterpoint, an example of a M&A, in the same conditions, where they worked. Very interesting!

5 out of 5 stars

A quick read for a practioner September 26, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

For anyone who has been in thegame for a while, it brings back memories. It is a quick read and a wonderful refresher. I highly recommend the book.

Andrew M

4 out of 5 stars

From an M&A pro, this is worth reading-- August 21, 2005
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

I'm an M&A pro with 15 years and 30+ deals.

This book is easy to read and offers some good ideas. Most importantly, he pushes back against the common wisdom that "most deals fail", on the premise that analyses of failure are often simplistic and quoted without understanding the causes of failure. His view is that the deals that fail do so because of "perfect storm" events, where multiple problems conspire to knock the underpinnings out of what the dealmakers thought were best laid plans. To set up his ideas, he uses as examples some great disasters, such as Bhopal, Chernobyl and a few others, where a sequence of individually avoidable errors was required to ultimately cause the disaster. He discusses the errors by type and gives key points to consider. It's not nuts and bolts - his issues are at the "you're-in-charge" strategic level.

The book is built in three distinct segments. The first section, heavily footnoted, reviews a lot of the academic literature about why certain deals fail. But wait - don't nod off yet. Bruner organizes his thoughts to keep it focused and accessible: this is written for people who do deals, not those who pontificate about them. He sorts the analyses into about 20 variables that individually may not matter a lot. But, as they line up against you, the deal begins to list to leeward more than a few degrees. A lot more.

So how is this useful, beyond giving us some thoughtful warnings about structuring deals? Well, consider that we all work with executives and investors that don't do deals every day. Convincing them, with confidence, that deals can be structured to work can be tough. This section not only gives you a list of good ideas, it supports them with reference to studies. And most importantly, it gives support that more deals do well than everyone thinks, and that focusing on certain items improves the likelihood of success. No, you don't use it to cite a paper to the CEO (good luck with that, my friend), but you can say, for example, that using earnouts drives statistically higher deal returns, even as your Counsel argues against them "because you always get sued".

The second section is case studies of failed deals. Again, don't run screaming from the idea of returning to B-school a bit. They read more like war stories than cases (thank goodness). From the Columbia-Sony deal, through AOL-Time Warner, to Tyco's acquisition program, these are readable, and best of all, you don't have to submit an analysis to the prof. Bruner reviews each one, discussing the events that sank them (and sometimes their companies) and finding common threads that give plenty of food for thought to the M&A pro.

The last section is "How to Avoid the Deals from Hell". Helpful summary, but I'll leave it to those who are interested enough to buy it and read it. Suffice it to say, the book gives a lot of good, if general, ideas for the practitioner.

And even if you're too busy or lazy to read it, it's a great conversation starter as it sits on your desk.