In January 2000, as Steve Case unveiled the all-stock $164bn merger between AOL and Time Warner, the AOL chief executive declared it an historic moment that would transform the competitive landscape of the media business and the way people used the internet forever.
A decade later, the “deal of the century” is not only being unwound but is widely castigated as an example of the chief executive hubris that characterised a period in which the worldwide value of deals exceeded $3,500bn and bankers briefly gained celebrity status but ended with their reputation in tatters.
“The decade opened at the high point of a merger wave. It's ending at the low point,” says Daniel Stillit, mergers and acquisitions analyst at UBS.
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