A number of years ago, when Smurfit and Stone merged (or whatever you want to call what they did, as both sides argued each acquired the other) they left intact two headquarters locations--one in suburban St. Louis, the other in downtown Chicago.  Then, they went bankrupt.

The old James River Corporation was famous for doing an extremely poor job of integrating acquisitions into the fold. It was well known that James River was a "balkanized" company with many fiefdoms that simply ignored headquarters.  James River, which evolved into Fort James, is no more.

I have always been impressed with the RockTenn approach to acquisitions.  RockTenn immediately obliterated the acquired company's name and that company became part of RockTenn.    

Perhaps this was one of the many brilliant policies of Jim Rubright when he was CEO of RockTenn.

But now, Mr. Rubright has retired and WestRock has announced "executive offices" will be located in Richmond, Virginia, with an "operational office" in Norcross, Georgia.     

This is an ominous beginning.

If you have any private comments you want to share with me, send me an email in confidence at jthompson@taii.com. 

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Comment from last month's newsletter, "Kill Mill..."

Jim, been there, done that, and when I see another deal done I just shake my head and wonder what I am missing, as I am sure the smartest guys in the room would not make a blunder.  I have learned, while not the smartest guy in the room when I scratch my head and wonder how in the heck they are going to make that work, the truth is they cannot.  When the market is declining and the cost structure is fundamentally too high it doesn't work.  Sometimes it takes a few years and the signs are typically starting with late vendor payments and even more ridiculous press releases celebrating non-meaningful accomplishments.