IN half-serious flights of fancy, humorists have lately envisioned an economic future in which International Everything, Inc. and about a dozen similar finance-manufacturing-retailing combines take over half of the nation's business. Corporate consolidation has a long way to go to reach such extremes, but it is certainly moving in that direction at an accelerating speed. Never before have U.S. companies been caught in such a powerful and persistent tide of mergers, raids and takeover attempts. The volume of mergers doubled last year, when firms paid a record $43 billion—mostly in securities—to acquire 4,462...
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