Big Oil Acquisitions Are Strikingly Similar To Big Tobacco’s Moves

While you have been eagerly following the sterile debate in Doha about whether to phase out or phase down fossil fuels, you probably missed an announcement on December 6, one that you probably would not have noticed anyway because it is not in your line of business. But it could presage similar events in the oil business.  Here is what happened. British American Tobacco (BAT) announced that it would write off £25 billion of the £62 billion value of the US brands it acquired in 2017 (Reynolds American). Why? Because of a combination…