Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2019 August 14

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August 14

WTC's Twin Towers elevators

How many elevators was in WTC's Twin Towers that went directly from the lobby/basement to the last floor, all the way to the observatory in WTC2 or to the restaurant in WTC1? 109.186.220.51 (talk) 17:28, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Two in each tower went all the way from the lobby to the top floor. --Jayron32 17:40, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

corporate acquisitions

What's the difference between “Company A acquires Company B” and “Company A acquires the assets of Company B”? —Tamfang (talk) 18:33, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Aquiring a company implies that Company A completely owns Company B. Aquiring assets implies that Company A takes over ownership of something that Company B used to own. Company B is still a separate company. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 18:45, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Someone may have to confirm, but isn’t an asset something a company owns ie. Premier Inn is an asset of Whitbread so when Whitbread bought Premier Inn they aquired the asset of the previous owner but they didn’t actually acquire the previous owner. I hope that helps, Willbb234^Talk (please {{ping}} me in replies) 20:07, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

This can actually get pretty complicated. A company is a legally registered entity. Ownership of a company can be transferred from one person or company to another. A company can also purchase the assets of another without a transfer of ownership of the company itself; however, if the purchased assets include the brand name of the company, then from the outside it can appear as if the company itself was purchased. This can go even further, and the purchased assets can include the products, real estate and employee contracts of the seller. The result is that the company has effectively been purchased, and that's how most people would describe it, but on paper the company is still an independent entity that no longer has any assets. This is sometimes done because the buyer just doesn't want the company itself, although sometimes this is done deliberately in an attempt to skirt liability (we purchase everything this company owns except that stuff they're being sued over), which normally results in a lawsuit asserting that "we purchased the assets, not the company" is a legal fiction. I did look into the case of Premier Inn, which is itself a fusion of Travel Inn and Premier Lodge, the first of which was owned by Whitbread and the second of which was owned by Spirit. I found a complicated web of companies that seem to have be registered just around the time of the sale, and some own one another, and I don't get it. I think you'd need someone who already knew how the sale went down to explain what it means. Someguy1221 (talk) 20:44, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Note that "acquiring the assets" often means the original company is now defunct, often bankrupt, and their equipment, property, etc., is being sold off, possibly under bankruptcy law, to pay off creditors/investors. "Acquiring a company", on the other hand, typically means that it will continue operations, in some form. If the sizes of company A and B are similar, this later case may be called a "merger". SinisterLefty (talk) 00:42, 15 August 2019 (UTC)

Depending on the "merger", it can be many other things, such as a partnership. Example: I read that FCA and Renault were looking into a merger in which FCA would purchase holdings in Renault and Renault would purchase holding in FCA. They would remain completely separate companies, but have board voting rights in each other's companies. The deal fell through and Nissan, for some reason, got involved. But, that is a form of aquiring assets in a company that isn't truly a merger. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 18:23, 16 August 2019 (UTC)