When two companies agree to merge and then the deal falls through, neither side is likely to be very happy about it. Last week, after International Telephone & Telegraph Corp. called off its proposed get-together with American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., the reaction was not at all usual: sighs of relief were audible in the front offices of both companies.
For ITT Chairman-President Harold Geneen, who had hoped to fashion the two firms into a $2.5 billion telecommunications colossus, the decision was largely a matter of money. Announced in December 1965, the merger has been held up by Justice Department antitrust...