Yet another European company on the way out..

Or not...

But if the markets play their wonders AstraZeneca might be directed from the other side of the Atlantic soon.

I see at least three reasons why this is not positive news for common people in Europe:

1. Consolidating any market into a few players, which seems the current trend everywhere, is ultimately negative for consumers. Trusts and monopolies have never encouraged innovation. Furthermore, they manipulate the offer side of the market with very negative impact. What happened to the anti-trust government policies that so successfully forced companies to be innovative and that brought so much progress in the 80s? I am afraid globalisation happened and, while ensuring competition in the market with laws that stop abuse is critical, it only works when everyone applies the same law. It is almost impossible to break monopolies at a world level, far more to encourage certain countries to comply with a given set of rules. Large corporations have become weapons of attack and defense for any country. 
2. Often, the products and services of the bought company are questioned and left without support. One could claim that if the bought company is in good health, there will be no need to suppress anything. In practical terms business priorities are shifted. Headquarters play a major role in strategic decisions  and the physical distance to the location where services and products are created as well as the ignorance of the new leaders about those products tend to unbalance the decisions. Services that where offered might disappear. Consumers definitely end up having less choice.  A couple of examples come into my mind: Nokia, Skype.
3. Employment in Europe is also at risk with these actions. While the EU has high standards regarding employment and fair exploitation. Other countries are not at the same level. It is a fact that, to remain competitive, Europe is starting to level things down, precisely because not all countries play by the same rules. European corporations with a large tradition have been necessary to support the standards of living that we enjoy. 

Things being equal, selling and buying corporations worldwide, would not be such a big deal. However, they are not equal everywhere, and if we do not all play the game with the same rules, we need to watch out for those that will be exploiting the weaknesses unfairly.

Europe understands this very well, it has been trying to develop a single market for all Europeans for a long time already. Successful in some aspects, catastrophic in some other. The EU is a mini experiment of what the world could go towards to. I am not sure if that brings me a smile or makes me want to run away.

Ah! One final thought:  I am not against mergers and acquisitions. I am against reducing choice and competition via extremely large M&As.