IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tse/wpaper/128159.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Theory of Conglomerate Mergers

Author

Listed:
  • Rey, Patrick
  • Chen, Zhijun

Abstract

We present a theory of conglomerate mergers and explore the effect of portfolio differentiation due to the heterogeneity of consumption synergy derived from product bundling. The differentiation of product portfolios reduces competition and leads to higher prices for stand- alone products in highly concentrated markets. As a result, conglomerate mergers benefit consumers who purchase bundled products from the merged entity but can harm those who prefer to mix-and-match standalone products. We demonstrate that a conglomerate merger increases total consumer surplus if the merged firm continues to sell standalone products, but it can be detrimental to consumers if the firm commits to pure bundling. Our analysis provides important policy implications for assessing conglomerate merger cases.

Suggested Citation

  • Rey, Patrick & Chen, Zhijun, 2023. "A Theory of Conglomerate Mergers," TSE Working Papers 23-1447, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    • Handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:128159
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/TSE/documents/doc/wp/2023/wp_tse_1447.pdf
    File Function: Full Text
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.tse-fr.eu/sites/default/files/TSE/documents/doc/wp/2023/wp_tse_1447_appendix.pdf
    File Function: Appendix
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dennis W. Carlton & Michael Waldman, 2002. "The Strategic Use of Tying to Preserve and Create Market Power in Evolving Industries," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(2), pages 194-220, Summer.
    2. Choi, Jay Pil & Stefanadis, Christodoulos, 2001. "Tying, Investment, and the Dynamic Leverage Theory," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 32(1), pages 52-71, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. de Cornière, Alexandre & Taylor, Greg, 2017. "Application Bundling in System Markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 12129, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Alexandre de Cornière & Greg Taylor, 2019. "A model of biased intermediation," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 50(4), pages 854-882, December.
    3. Jihui Chen & Qiang Fu, 2017. "Do exclusivity arrangements harm consumers?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 311-339, June.
    4. Andrea Greppi & Domenico Menicucci, 2021. "On Bundling and Entry Deterrence," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 58(4), pages 561-581, June.
    5. Helen Weeds, 2016. "TV Wars: Exclusive Content and Platform Competition in Pay TV," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(594), pages 1600-1633, August.
    6. Rochet, Jean Charles & Tirole, Jean, 2008. "Tying in two-sided markets and the honor all cards rule," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1333-1347, November.
    7. Kenneth S. Corts, 2018. "How the source of the entrant's advantage limits entry‐deterring tying," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(2), pages 510-527, May.
    8. Sang‐Hyun Kim & Jong‐Hee Hahn, 2022. "On the profitability of interfirm bundling in oligopolies," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 657-673, August.
    9. Katherine Ho & Justin Ho & Julie Holland Mortimer, 2012. "The Use of Full-Line Forcing Contracts in the Video Rental Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(2), pages 686-719, April.
    10. Zhou, Jidong, 2021. "Mixed bundling in oligopoly markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    11. Zhijun Chen & Patrick Rey, 2012. "Loss Leading as an Exploitative Practice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3462-3482, December.
    12. Rey, Patrick & Jullien, Bruno & Saavedra, Claudia, 2014. "The Economics of Margin Squeeze," CEPR Discussion Papers 9905, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Sreya Kolay, 2018. "Tie-in contracts with downstream competition," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 43-77, March.
    14. Wen Wen & Feng Zhu, 2016. "How Do Complementors Respond to the Threat of Platform Owner Entry? Evidence from the Mobile App Market," Working Papers 16-10, NET Institute.
    15. Jeon, Doh-Shin & Menicucci, Domenico, 2009. "Bundling and Competition for Slots: Sequential Pricing," TSE Working Papers 09-074, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    16. Alessandro Avenali & Anna D’Annunzio & Pierfrancesco Reverberi, 2013. "Bundling, Competition and Quality Investment: A Welfare Analysis," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 43(3), pages 221-241, November.
    17. Jay Pil Choi, 2010. "Tying In Two‐Sided Markets With Multi‐Homing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 607-626, September.
    18. Angelika Endres-Fröhlich & Joachim Heinzel, 2022. "The Impact of Product Qualities on Downstream Bundling in a Distribution Channel," Working Papers Dissertations 90, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    19. Yongmin Chen, 2014. "Refusal to Deal, Intellectual Property Rights, and Antitrust," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 533-557.
    20. Yongmin Chen & Michael H. Riordan, 2013. "Profitability Of Product Bundling," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(1), pages 35-57, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Conglomerate mergers; Portfolio differentiation; Bundling;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:128159. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tsetofr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.