Me, Myself & Media.

An article which appeared on Advertising Age’s website this morning detailed Procter & Gamble’s $57 billion acquisition of Gillette Co. five years ago. The author of the piece, Jack Neff, says that while P&G has had increased market share since obtaining Gillette, that the full price tag value has not be reaped just yet. $57 billion is a lot of money -- and these last five years have been tough economically. I bet P&G did not see the economic crisis coming when they handed over such a hefty sum of money. In the past five years, Gillette rolled out their newest “blade innovation” -- the Fusion. The problem with Gillette’s problem is that with people having less money and 10% of the population without a job, pricy razors are not high on people’s priority lists.

One of the things I find most interesting about this article is that as I was reading it, I could not think of a single competitor to Gillette. I sat and racked my brains and came up with Schick, but that was it. I suppose I am most familiar with female razor brands, but I could not think of any separate “male razors” either. Gillette seemingly has a monopoly in the razor marketplace. Even if the $57 billion has not proven measurable results equal to, or greater than, this acquisition price tag, I do not think that the decision was a bad idea. I feel like it is unwise to judge success of financial decisions in such a tough economic climate.

Lastly, this acquisition made me think of companies that I wish would branch out, or create subsidiaries, or even other product lines. I would LOVE for Whole Foods to create a separate entity, sit-down, restaurant where they served delicious, organic, healthy food off a menu. And TCBY needs to start selling their frozen yogurt at the grocery store. And iTunes should host concerts -- at a live venue. These are very random thoughts, but I love trying to think of new M&A or new ways that companies can create new products which compliment their current assets.