Reply #22: so that's what that song is about [View All]

[hfojvt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSOaoPDO16Y

Nice to get that cleared up.

Funny thing is, that I remember reading Heilbroner writing in the 1970s that the top 4 corporations in every industry controlled about 90% market share.

All of those companies were not equal size to start with, and some of them were in different "industries". Like at the top Travellers was an insurance company while Citicorp was a bank. It was the repeal of Glass-Steagall that allowed a bank to buy an insurance company.

Further, it would seem that Citigroup has not exactly prospered from all their acquisitions. Back in 2007, their stock was selling for $55 a share, and it fell to about $2 a share in 2009 and even today is basically selling for $2.85 a share (they did a reverse stock split 10-1, so the market price is now 28.49, but that's basically for 10 shares in 2007 terms.

Bank of America hit the skids too, dropping from 55 down to 7.

Wells Fargo has about stayed even for the last five years, after a big fall in 2009, and so has JPMorgan.