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While the Farben heirs built up, the Allies broke down in bickering over how to take Farben apart. U.S. decartelizers demanded a complete breakup into many splinter companies; the British wanted sizable firms. So did the French, who also desired to absorb some rich Farben plants located near France. German negotiators, holding fast to their plan for big successor companies, utilized the dispute among the victors to drag out the talks and wait for the political climate to change. By 1950 the Western Allies had decided that the U.S.S.R. was really the enemy, and that it would be good economics and good politics to encourage a strong West German chemical industry. They accepted the German plan almost intact, agreed to split Farben into only three big companies and nine lesser ones. But by 1954 the three giants had absorbed most of the nine smaller units, leaving only the big three and two lesser companies.
New Problems. Despite their quick comeback, the companies are still licking some battle wounds. As the world leader in chemical sales, Germany in 1938 held 24% of the world chemical trade v. 15% for the U.S.; today West Germany has 14%, the U.S. 23%. Among the reasons: Farben successors are cut off from many of their eastern sources of supply, thus must pay up to three times as much as U.S. competitors for some raw materials. And their productivity is below the U.S. level because old, war-weary equipment is still being replaced.
The fact that the companies neatly complement each other has stirred up some fears in the West that they might recombine. From time to time in the past, the managers of the companies have heartily condemned the deconcentration of Farben as being uneconomical and inefficient. But now they declare that there is no intent to re-form the competition-stifling Farben trust. A legal reason is that such a movement would crash head-on with West Germany's new anticartel law (TIME, July 15). It would also downgrade the men who have built up rank in the separate companies. Even more important, Farben's prosperous heirs are doing so well that the three fast-moving, flexible companies can compete far better in world markets than one unwieldy colossus.