The latest trend in M&A these days is divestitures: larger companies selling off pieces of their business. This trend is nothing more than a normal cycle, but it is critically important to understand. Every business leader has a specific reason for buying or selling a company (including selling their own business). The argument rarely includes general economic conditions, but the macro trends tell a different story: when economies are raging (regardless of the performance of the individual business), businesses become acquisitive, buying their competitors and strategic partners. Look at this chart of “merger waves”; the timing of each wave is eerily close to economic boom times. Some of this has to do with easier access to capital, marketplace opportunities, company performance, and other strategic reasons. But in lean times, or when economies are actually contracting, businesses sell assets.