Booking CEO Fogel on Why Making No Deal Is Better Than the Wrong Acquisition
Photo Credit: Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel knows the dynamics of deals gone right and wrong. He's pictured here speaking at Skift Global Forum in September 2022 in New York. Skift / Neil van Niekerk
Skift Take
Mergers and acquisitions are sexy for shareholders, analysts and the press. Booking CEO Fogel knows, though, that sometimes the best decision is not overpaying and walking away from that shiny object.
Whether it is out of ego or for personal financial incentives, companies sometimes do mergers and acquisitions for the wrong reasons, and many academic studies show that takeover deals generally turn out to be "losers."
That's the view of Booking Holdings and Booking.com CEO Glenn Fogel, who was interviewed several weeks ago on the subject of leadership for a podcast, C-Suite Conversations With Scott Miller.
Dealmaking can be incredibly perilous, Fogel said, adding: "“you are playing with live ammunition.”
Acquisitions can be very "disruptive," Fogel said, and companies need to be aware of how these deals would impact shareholders, employees and customers.
Even before becoming CEO, Fogel was involved in many of the Bookiing's acquisitions, including for Active Hotels (2004), Bookings B.V. (2005), Kayak (2013), and OpenT
