Corporate merger and acquisition (M&A) activity is rarely far from the news, but that is not to say that the subject is always well understood. Contested takeovers make for lively copy, as do the “mega-mergers” that can be presented as blatant empire-building and a search for monopoly profits.
Far less coverage is devoted to the critically important role that M&A plays in the ecology of venture capital, the source of the funds that power new, pioneering businesses of the type that have put the United States at the cutting edge of commercial and technological innovation.
