We're getting Lannister vibes... from the Game of Thrones-worthy strategy behind Charles Schwab's acquisition of TD Ameritrade. First, the discount broker dropped the commission it charges on stock trading to $0 in September — that hurt both Schwab and TD, but damaged TD more since trading commissions made up 32% of its business and only 7% of Schwab's. Then, after injuring commissions-dependent TD, it was easier (and cheaper) for Schwab to acquire its rival for $26B.
StubHub outgrew its eBay nest... So the go-to ecommerce option of the '90s sold its ticketing site StubHub for $4B to European tival Viagogo. EBay's fallen way behind Amazon in online shopping, so activist investors pushed eBay to sell the distraction (no offense, StubHub). Now eBay can focus on growing its 6.1% share of US online sales (Amazon's got 47%). At least eBay enjoyed an Antiques Roadshow-esque return: It bought up StubHub for only $310M in 2007.