| A company that owns a number of other companies with widely diversified activities. Conglomerates have tended to lose favour with investors since the 1980s because most institutions believe they can diversify risk themselves through portfolio management. Companies that lack focus, or fail to justify having diverse businesses under one roof, may be subject to calls for a break up ? to release shareholder value ? if the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. GE, based in the US, is the best enduring example of a conglomerate.
|
