Warren Buffet once famously stated that compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. Power laws rule much around us, but more so in the technology and business worlds. One fantastic deal, such as Facebook buying Instagram, can shift the bedrock of business everywhere. Despite the common belief that 80% of company acquisitions are failures, the remaining 20% can shape a new path for in that company – the expected value is still enormous and is definitely a worthwhile path if executed properly.

M&A is generally a net positive even though most acquisitions fail.

80% of company acquisitions do not work, but when they do work, they can work spectacularly.

Acquisitions, like tech investments, follow a power law.

— Auren 𝐇𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐦𝐚𝐧 (@auren) October 29, 2019

Many people mistake averages for value. Venture capital is exactly the opposite of this: missing the seed round of AirBNB if you had the chance to invest means you would be financially worse off than had you invested in 50 Theranoses. The difference is that in the first case you would make 1000x your investment or at worst 0, so the opportunity cost is immense. 

Power Laws also exist in company acquisitions.  

The Power Law of Company Acquisitions is why companies continue to make acquisitions. In the few cases it does work, like Google’s purchase of YouTube, the gains can continue to reap dividends decades later. Fundamentally, most of the best acquisitions are contrarian in nature; otherwise, they would have been bought by another company already. And sometimes, like the YouTube acquisition, there are only a few companies that could have acquired it successfully – the key is to stay within your circle of competence. 

M&A strategy is under-rated. Great M&A can transform the company.

In some cases (@bookingcom, @LiveRamp, @VMware, etc.) the acquired company became more valuable than the rest of the parent.

— Auren 𝐇𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐦𝐚𝐧 (@auren) October 31, 2019

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