Mr. Wendt was brought in from General Electric to redeem Conseco last June after a disastrous acquisition made by the previous management had practically leveled the company.

But BMW is still reeling from its last catastrophe in Britain, the disastrous acquisition of Rover Cars.

An outspoken champion of "shareholder value," he boldly reversed a series of disastrous acquisitions by his predecessor, Edzard Reuter.

The immediate causes are many: A disastrous acquisition drains cash reserves and defocuses management; a crucial technology trend is ignored; attempts to diversify beyond the initial product line stall.

Under Mr. Milberg, BMW sold Rover, the money-losing British carmaker, shedding a disastrous acquisition.

A1 Quaker Oats to Sell Snapple Quaker Oats closed the books on its disastrous acquisition of the Snapple drink business.

Heron was weakened by its disastrous 1980 acquisition of Pima Savings, a savings and loan association in Tucson, Ariz.

The deal-making culminated with the disastrous 1989 acquisition of Consolidated-Bathhurst Inc., a troubled Canadian newsprint company, just before a worldwide plunge in newsprint prices.

Thai admits it was his impatience to compete with Top Glove that led to a disastrous acquisition of a competitor, APLI, in 2005.

The purchase by Mattel was later called one of the most disastrous acquisitions in history.