unbutton.html - transitive or intransitive verb (Business World) In financial jargon, to divide (a company or group, its assets, products, etc.) into a core
company and a number of smaller businesses, usually so as to sell off the smaller companies to
finance a take-over. Occasionally used intransitively: to carry out this kind of activity.
Etymology : A specialized
figurative sense of a verb which was already in use in the business world in the
sense 'to charge separately for (items previously treated as a group)'. History and Usage: The activity of unbundling was first practised under this name in the US in the seventies, but many financiers see it as no more than a more up-to-date term for asset-stripping (see asset))). In the UK, the whole process is specially associated with Sir James Goldsmith and his dealings with the BAT Industries conglomerate at the end of the eighties: in fact, he became so famous as an unbundler that he acquired the nickname 'the great unbundler' for his attempts to deal
with corpocracy in large conglomerates. A conglomerate to which this process has been applied may be described as unbundled. In
practical terms, companies are learning to 'unbundle', to move away from the classic idea of the traditional package of equity, technology, and management.
American Banker 28 July 1982, p.
20 Conglomerates, who needs 'em? That sums up the prevailing attitude
following the bid for BAT Industries by Sir James Goldsmith and friends. The immediate response is that Sir James certainly doesn't need them. If there were no conglomerates to 'unbundle' he
would no doubt argue in
favour of the concept and buy companies to create a conglomerate.
Guardian 8 Aug. 1989, p.
11 Since the demerger forced on it by the
Great Unbundler and Co, its simplified business
has not been properly understood. Independent on Sunday 29 July 1990, Business on Sunday section, p. 2
