Radical M&A Strategy: The Difference Between Accelerating And Consolidating A Category

Companies that deploy radical M&A strategies are buying the future.

• Salesforce acquired Slack for $27.7 billion...
• Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion...
• Disney acquired Pixar for $7.4 billion, Marvel for $4 billion, and Star Wars for $4 billion...

These are all prime examples of Radical M&A: paying a premium to own the Category King in the emerging or tangentially relevant category.

When a company like Salesforce shells out $27.7 billion for Slack, they aren’t buying the brand, the revenue, or the customer base today, as much as they are the company’s leadership position in a category they believe will be much bigger, and much more dominant tomorrow. And since we know Category Kings capture 76% of the economics of the category they own, if the “Company Communications” category continues to grow, it’s reasonable to assume the Category King (Slack) will reap the majority of the rewards.

Said differently: Salesforce didn’t just buy Slack. They bought the leadership position in the exciting, emerging category Slack dominated.

They bought the future. A very different future.

In this “mini-book” you will learn:

• How Google made one of the most legendary acquisitions of all time, scooping up YouTube in 2006.
• The difference between Category Acceleration and Category Consolidation.
• Why “Be The Winner” and “Be The Best” companies tend to miss out on exponential acquisitions (because they are focused on the wrong metrics).
• Why BE DIFFERENT companies tend to produce the most legendary financial outcomes.
• And more
  

Short, sweet, and jam-packed with incredibly valuable insights, this “mini-book” gives you a glimpse into how companies that make misunderstood acquisitions in the moment go on to dominate their category long into the future.