Big but I wouldn't say "huge" ... and they did tend to be bigger than the companies they were acquiring (Time-Warner was huge in other businesses before the acq

Big but I wouldn't say "huge" ... and they did tend to be bigger than the companies they were acquiring (Time-Warner was huge in other businesses before the acquisition spree really started). I mentioned "aggression" in your market as a requirement for becoming huge, but was it also something that led to them being big in the first place? I think there are people who act convincingly larger than they are, and the world grows to fit them. There are a whole host of business requirements that can sink the process of becoming big. Adelphia failed because the Rigas family aggressively expanded the company, took it public but continued to treat it as though it was still family owned (I shouldn't say more). So the business acumen to run an enterprise at different sizes is important - I've seen leaders fail to hire appropriately, then delegate kill promising companies too. I think we could make a long list of reasons for failure. larrys: I'd love to hear your audio ... Jerrold was purchased by General Instruments who was in turn purchased by Motorola. Motorola added Jerrold's set-top boxes, to GI's trunk amplifier and line extenders (and other head-end equipment), then Motorola added both to their cable modem business and that conglomerate was ultimately bought by Google. Cisco purchased Scientific Atlanta who was the main competitor.