A variety of reasons sanction a corporate merger and acquisition, not all necessarily financial in nature. Additionally, M&A activity falls within the purview of the Board of Directors to pursue (1) and the company's executives to initiate and execute. Because board members can also be subject to political, social, and personal interests, even seemingly shareholder-friendly decisions can become a quagmire due to additional factors. According to Investopedia.com, approximately 66% of mergers and acquisitions are unsuccessful due to M&A intent. Of the 33% considered successful, mergers and acquisitions achieved a net gain from M&A deals without bad M&A intentions. There are numerous reasons for most failures beyond the failures themselves, indicating that a potential downside of M&A activity is a relatively high risk of failure. (www.investopedia.com). In some cases, mergers and acquisitions can not only disadvantage shareholders but also consumers. In both cases, this can happen when the newly formed company becomes a large oligopoly or monopoly. Furthermore, when increased pricing power emerges from reduced competition, consumers may be financially disadvantaged. There are some potential downsides for consumers, however. One of these is increased costs for consumers. Another is the decline in business performance and services. The suppression of competing businesses is another disadvantage. Shareholders may also be disadvantaged by corporate leadership if it becomes too satisfied or complacent with its market positioning. In other words, when M&A activity reduces competition in the industry and produces a powerful and influential corporate entity, that company may suffer from noncompetitive stimuli and lower stock prices. Lower stock prices and stock valuations could also result from the merger itself being a short-term downside for the company