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vlovich123yesterday at 11:09 PM12 repliesview on HN

You're basically advocating for unscrambling the omelet to be easier. Should be obvious why it's harder to unmix than it is to mix.


Replies

yndoendotoday at 12:14 AM

Splitting a large company is already done to shed and transfer liabilities. Divisional Merger Tactic / Texas Two Step. [0] [1] Keep the yoke and drop the albumen with time and patience.

[0] https://batesonlaw.com/divisional-merger-tactic-how-liabilit...

[1] https://www.creditandcollectionnews.com/u-s-supreme-court-de...

ryandraketoday at 1:11 AM

You can bet that if the board of directors could show that unscrambling the omelet would result in greater shareholder value produced, it would suddenly be really easy to do...

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xahrepapyesterday at 11:24 PM

I’m advocating for controlling the damage. The way I said it is cutesy, not literal.

I intended it to point out that it’s too easy to merge companies together but it’s effectively impossible to stop someone from becoming anticompetitive without a real consequence.

If we can’t make it easier to rip them apart then we shouldn’t be so slap-happy about approving them in the first place.

makeitdoubleyesterday at 11:15 PM

Why skip this part ?

> legislation needs to either make it just as hard to merge two companies as it is to unmerge them

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patcontoday at 2:44 AM

Yes, this is obviously the ask: why doesn't government unmix the omelet. Your very body unscrambles the omelet and makes you. It's what intelligent things do when they are moving agency into the proper places.

what is the purpose of regulation except to resist entropy in such strategic places?

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otterleytoday at 1:09 AM

That’s one half. The other, more interesting half, recognizes that unscrambling the egg is difficult, so we must take more precautions before scrambling it in the first place.

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saghmtoday at 12:33 AM

No, they're advocating for more scrutiny of whether the omelet is going to be very bad for everyone who isn't part of the omelet (yes, this metaphor is weird, but I didn't introduce it)

romanowsyesterday at 11:37 PM

I don't think it's particularly unusual for a company to spin off another company?

EA-3167today at 2:56 AM

Undoing mistakes is usually difficult and costly, but still worth doing on the road to not making the mistake again. Grandfathering in the subversion of the economy and our democracy is worth fighting.

insane_dreamertoday at 3:51 AM

large corporations spin off divisions into separate companies all the time

manvillejtoday at 1:59 AM

Eh, thats a bit of a False analogy. spinning off a division of a company is easier than fully integrating another.

rectoversoyesterday at 11:41 PM

PE companies do it all the time.

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