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Hi, everyone:
My question: what year (date?) did Beatrice Foods acquire JBL? I know it was in the late '70's. When did Beatrice let JBL go? Any comments on their influence?
By the way, my house is located about 3 miles from the site where the Beatrice Foods corporate headquarters was once located. It is now a forest of town houses.
Regards,
Charley
I've never gotten a good answer to that question. The most common answer is that it was the age of the conglomerate when companies attempted to grow through diversification. Beatrice was one such company. Still, I would have thought that there was some connection that brought Harman and Beatrice together. However, I have never heard of one. From what I gather, Beatrice was no more successful than the vast majority of conglomerates that proved inefficient in trying to manage a diverse portfolio of companies with no common focus. The story is that Harman was able to re-acquire JBL and most of the other assets he sold to Beatrice for a fraction of what he sold it for. I believe that was in 1981.
Well, Any likelyhood that there may be any interest in an expidition over the former grounds of Beatrice? There are alot of good bars in the area... We can tour the area, go to my house and get s**t faced, and go back to the Beatrice grounds for a proper "salute," etc....
Regards,
Charley
Re: the "salute"-that's pretty funny, Charlie! I've participated in a few such solemn occasions myself.
I believe it was investor Peter Lynch who coined the term "Diworsify" to describe the phenomenon of large corporations making acquisions outside of their core competencies. Few such moves have proved to be successful over time; most lost their "assets" with the subsidiaries being eventually resold at a steep loss. The purchase of Snapple by Quaker Oats is a more recent example of diworsification. Shareholders get to stand by and watch management play Monopoly with their money.