As pjc50 said, it's often definitely a case of empire building. Other times, the kind of personality that propels one into upper management makes him/her a par

As pjc50 said, it's often definitely a case of empire building. Other times, the kind of personality that propels one into upper management makes him/her a particularly poor choice to execute an acquisition. Consider strong competitive instincts. While that is an excellent trait in certain types of companies, it can be a nightmare when it comes to acquisitions. Hell, highly competitive people can and have raised the valuation of a company several magnitudes beyond reasonable, simply through a bidding process. In many ways, a competitive acquisition process looks like an auction and all the usual caveats apply.