Playing at Serial Acquisitions
Playing at Serial Acquisitions
The Case of Vodafone
In a period of only a few years in the early 2000s, Vodafone's then CEO Chris Gent grew the company from a small UK-based mobile operator into the world leader, with over 240 million customers. He did this via a sequence of 26 strategic transactions, including the acquisition of AirTouch and deals leading to the creation of the Verizon wireless business in the United States. Judging from Vodafone's acquisition story, Gent played his cards well, while both Vodafone's rivals and the financial markets acted irrationally in some instances. However, even Gent may have made some typical serial acquisition errors on the road to building the world's leading telecom company. This chapter uses the Vodafone story to illustrate how behavioral pitfalls in strategy, valuation, and bidding can be related to various components of the options and game valuation approach.
Keywords: company valuation, Vodafone, acquisition strategy, Chris Gent, bidding
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