I totally agree that acquisitions usually destroy values, but the right question should be for whom. Usually, all the people involved in the transactions stand to benefit, except the shareholders and employees laid off for the infamous 'synergies'. Indeed, Investment Banker make huge fees in the transaction, the management of the acquired company either gets a fat bonus to go or get a promotion with better salary in the new conglomerate, and the management of the acquiring company can justify a higher salary and bonus due to the bigger size of the company they now manage. The right question would therefore be how do you solve the misalignment of interest between acquiring shareholders and management.