[Craig T]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

I know... I was echoeing the point CA was a "bad company" since it was quoted ("Companies that grow mostly through acquisitions are usually bad companies. Banks, Computer Associates, and Comcast come to mind.")...

He went to jail for their accounting practices... When they introduced us to those "delayed and gradual accounting of software sales" we all thought "this cannot be legal", and we were just software people, not accountants... Sure enough, it wasn't ;-)

I understand.

Regarding growth through acquisition: In the USA, Growth through tradition sales (sales reps, advertising, etc) is slow and VERY expensive. Good sales people are expensive, plus add 25-30% fringe benefits, company car, etc. Say a sales rep making $80K per year brings in a $5K per month account with a $20 percent profit margin. If he get's a $40K base salary and company car AND 10% commission on the account, that account would have to stick around a long time before the sales rep paid for himself on that account. It is often much cheaper...and faster...for a large company to buy a small company's client list through an asset sale...even if the integration results in a 30% attrition (of clients).