M&A: No M, no A til at least 2010.

When I was interviewing for jobs in investment banking and consulting, way back in the wilds of 2000, I was assured that I didn't need to worry about any recession.  Consultants were as valuable telling companies how to downsize as they were explaining how to expand.  Bankers explained that while IPOs might fall off during down years, M&A activity would pick up as companies snapped up new bargains.

This was horse hockey, and after accepting a management consulting job to start in fall of 2001, I was rewarded with 18 months of unemployment.  Banking turned out to be just as recession-prone as everything else.

So naturally when I read that Bernstein is predicting at least another year of down M&A activity, I wondered how many MBAs are ruing the day they bought the same stupid line I did in 2001.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2008/12/mand-a-no-m-no-a-til-at-least-2010/4429/