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A comment on Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bought it. Parent comment

Re:Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bou... by kibwen on Monday July 03, 2023 @07:54PM (#36580392)
FWIW, this is also the conclusion that I've come to. Mergers only make markets less competitive, and the mere existence of acquisitions creates perverse incentives that distort the startup market into utter uselessness. The experiment has failed, ban it all, and ignore the protestations of the get-rich-quick crowd. Of course, to fix the overall market you'll also need to break up all the existing megacorps in the process, and I wish you luck with that.
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Re:Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bou... by nl on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @12:23AM (#36582212)
But... mergers really do not only make markets less competitive at all!

May mergers of huge companies often have negative impact. Firstly most mergers do not involve multi-billion dollar companies at all, secondly many mergers occur when one company is is trouble, and thirdly good takeovers increase distribution of the smaller companies brand.

Good examples of successful mergers/takeovers like this include:

Halotop bought by Wells Enterprises

Geely buying Volvo

SAIC buying MG

Most acquisitions by Proctor & Gamble

Most acquisitions and mergers in the markup and beauty space.

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Re:Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bou... by throwaway2037 on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @01:43AM (#36582636) 

    Most acquisitions by Proctor & Gamble
That is quite a broad statement. Can you explain more?
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Re:Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bou... by nl on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @07:52AM (#36585446)
In the FMCG space that P&G is in most of their takeovers improve distribution for the company that is being acquired, and P&G generally seems to prefer to leave the brand and management of the company alone.

I'm sure there have been some that haven't been successful, but most that I'm aware of have gone very well.

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Re:Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bou... by autoexec on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @02:00AM (#36582746)
> Good examples of successful mergers/takeovers like this include:

How are you defining "good" or "successful" here?

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Re:Goodreads was the future of book reviews. Then Amazon bou... by nl on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @07:46AM (#36585401)
There hasn't been a significant negative backlash, availability of the products increased, and revenue increased for the acquiring company.

The improved availability via better distribution is a win for consumers and the increase in revenue is a win for the company and shareholders.

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