Breakup!: How Companies Use Spin-Offs to Gain Focus and Grow Strong

In the space of two years, dozens of the most famous companies in the United States have all elected to self-destruct: ITT, Grace, Marriott, AT&T, 3M, Baxter, Tenneco, Anheuser Busch, Ralston Purina, General Motors, Corning, Dial, and Dun & Bradstreet.

What on earth is going on?

As the authors of this hard-hitting book explain, what's going on is a rush to unlock the nearly $1 trillion worth of value currently trapped in unwieldy, unfocused, and badly managed big companies.

The means to this end is the spin-off. By carefully spinning off companies and divisions, conglomerates can transform themselves into lean, focused, and far more profitable organizations. The excised divisions, reformed into stand-alone businesses, also benefit. No longer hampered by corporate centers without expertise in their core businesses, they thrive.

Based on extensive research and executive interviews, Breakup! analyzes the spin-off phenomenon and tells business people what they need to know to get in on the action, whether they are managing their careers, planning strategy for their companies, or looking for investment opportunities. This book covers all the angles, giving the details on what market forces drive breakups, how breakups create value, who should break up, how to profit from a breakup, and how to wind up with a better job should your company break up.

Special features include an analysis of the Fortune 100, showing which companies have the most to gain from interviews, for leading your company through a successful breakup.

DAVID SADTLER is a fellow of Ashridge Strategic Management Centre in London. He writes and consults widely on matters of corporate strategy.

ANDREW CAMPBELL, co-founder of Ashridge, writes, teaches, and consults on strategy and is the author of Corporate Level Strategy.

RICHARD KOCH is an entrepreneur, consultant, and the author of Managing Without Management and The 80/20 Principle.