>> A prosecutor, Micah Fergenson, though, said JPMorgan “didn’t get a functioning business” in exchange for its investment. “They acquired a crime scene.” I do not understand how an acquisition this big got thru due diligence without noticing all the fake users. Anyone in corporate M&A know if it is normal to spend this much money without inspecting the goods? Seems like the most basic of OLAP queries and two days of…
- board-1 gets marching orders to do due diligence. those people are typically aware of the sentiment in the board. they delegate to their underlings and share what they think the board wants,
- if you say no, you are guaranteed to upset one of your bosses. if you say yes, its typically a positive (your boss is happy),
- most M&As are typically bad ideas. Its typically nobody's fault when the thing is written off by the next management and nobody seems to mind that much. People who waved through the due dilligence are proper executives by then and the cycle continues.
Incentives are mis-aligned, and on top of this there is usually (a) not a lot of time and (b) a veil of secrecy. Missing those fake emails does not surprise me.