I am not sure if you were able to comprehend the simplicity of my statement.

In business strategy, acquisition comes to fruition because of synergy between the two firms. If the acquiring firm does not see a value/benefit after some time then one has to rethink whether marrying was a good idea-- and in most instances its about improving the bottom line, i.e. did earnings/sales/market share increase.

If it was decided that the marriage is over then there are a number of ways the acquirer could action to make oneself more leaner or better performer:

(i) if the business area of the acquiree is different then it could be spinned off as a separate company

(ii) or if there are overlaps in business areas it could handpick what should be kept and the others liquidated, and any loss from it could be wrote off

A struggling giant with underforming operations is hardly preferred over a lean company or market leader with outstanding performance. One of many examples is the marriage of AOL vs Time Warner in 2000-- the end result was that a divorce proved to be much more fruitful.

-JB