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Alex Brummer
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Publisher | Random House Business | ||
ISBN | 9781847940759 | ||
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Vicky
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Synopsis
In 2010 the iconic British chocolate manufacturer Cadbury was taken over by the US food giant Kraft. The deal caused a public furore and prompted many to ask whether we should be allowing such a major national enterprise to fall into foreign hands.
Yet, despite the hand-wringing, there was nothing unusual about what was going on. In recent years hundreds of billions of pounds worth of British businesses have been sold off abroad. Today, foreign companies control vast swathes of the British economy, from ports to bridges, from the National Lottery to airlines, and from high tech companies to gas and electricity suppliers.
In Britain for Sale, award-winning financial journalist Alex Brummer explains why British companies are so irresistible to overseas buyers. He considers the impact of foreign deals on Britain's enterprise culture. And he asks the key question: How damaging is the takeover bonanza to our future economic health?
Review
Alex Brummer is an award winning financial journalist with an easy style of writing that immediately grabs your attention. I was shocked to discover that over 50% of all British companies are now foreign owned which includes our utility companies such as water, gas and electricity plus a bank or two - but the one that finally got the British publics attention was the hostile Kraft take over of the iconic Cadbury's company. What was it about this take over that made us all so angry?
Alex is very fair when he delves deeper into what and why a take over happens and it is not black and white - more a case of 50 shades of grey and then some He is however most concerned that all recent governments do not seem to understand that we really should have control of our most important facilities. It would seem that everyone is in it for a fast buck, but Alex doesn't throw knives at people - he goes and talks to them to find out the inner story and that's what makes this book different.
This is a highly illuminating book that I more than highly recommend.
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