J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday that the current turmoil in the credit market and competitors' capital needs make it more likely that his firm will make an acquisition of either a company or individual assets. "I think in terms of either buying assets or buying companies, we're very open minded and we figure we can do the right kind of due diligence and understand the values and that we're giving the value that we're getting, we would be very happy to do it. This environment doesn't change that at all. It just may make it more likely," Dimon said on a conference call Wednesday discussing the company's fourth-quarter results. (Updates to fix typographical error in headline.) http://www.marketwatch.com/news/sto...x?guid={FCDC153E-D5A5-4318-8CB3-3E35FD1DBBC5}
He's got it backwards. Companies merge during bull markets and divorce during bear markets. Some spin-offs and divestitures would be in order at this point in the cycle. JPM has been stagnant for ~4 years since he came in. Maybe he can pull a rabbit out of a hat. We'll see.
That's the reason they divorce during bear markets, because they always overpay during bullmarkets. Acquisitions during bear markets make them look like geniuses when the good times come rolling again.