Mergers are hard, and "big company buys small company and derails it" is a common story, in every industry. Some historians of the automobile industry (Paul In

Mergers are hard, and "big company buys small company and derails it" is a common story, in every industry. Some historians of the automobile industry (Paul Ingrassia) suggest that Oldsmobile would have gone much further if it had remained an independent company. Wikipedia points out it was the #1 car company, shortly before it was bought: "In 1901, the company produced 425 cars, making it the first high-volume gasoline-powered automobile manufacturer. (Electric car manufacturers such as Columbia Electric and steam powered car manufacturers such as Locomobile had higher volumes a few years earlier). Oldsmobile became the top selling car company in the United States for a few years around 1903-4... General Motors purchased the company in 1908." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile John F. Love points out that in mid 1960s Burger King was building twice as many restaurants as McDonalds, and was on track to surpass McDonalds by the end of the 60s. At that time, Burger King had very smart management. However, Burger King was then bought by Hormel, who regarded it as simply a place to dump surplus beef that couldn't be sold through other channels. And that is why McDonalds is the #1 burger company. The software industry is full of such stories. Roomkey.com (it's pre-purchase name was Hotelicopter) might have transformed the hotel industry, but it was bought by a joint venture of Choice Hotels, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International, and Wyndham Worldwide. This joint venture regards Roomkey merely as a bargaining chip to get better rates from Expedia ("Give us better rates or we will invest more in Roomkey".) I could try to list all the innovative startups that Cisco has bought, cannibalized, and then discarded, but it would take me all day. Mergers are the main way that innovation is destroyed in our society. Over and over again small startups are bought, and then killed by the different needs of the new owners.