ABSTRACT
The Internet services and software industries (hereafter the Internet services industries) have disintegrated in the 21st century. They have been major targets in the global M&A market during the late 20th century and the early 21st century. The Internet services industries, referring to Internet-related companies providing Internet connections, services, and software to individuals and organizations which use these services for communication, however, have experienced a surge of de-convergence in recent years. The previous decade’s impressive series of corporate expansions through M&As in the Internet services sector changed into an equally impressive series of corporate contractions, divestitures, restructurings, and bankruptcies. Several critical historical events may have caused the Internet markets to grow and incumbents to expand such technological advances along with regulatory reforms and a booming Internet market; however, the resultant size and diversity may actually have exceeded what integrated incumbents could efficiently manage under prevailing conditions.
