AT&T buys DirecTV for $48.5 Billion

[MoHasanie]

SamuelRSmith said:

MoHasanie said:

It was rejected today  with little hope of Pfizer bidding again :( . It would have made the largest pharma company in the world. The HQ would have been in New York, but the company would be based in the UK because the corportate tax there is a lot lower. 

Ah, that's not as exciting then.

One of the major UK pharmas was actually going to leave the UK over the ridiculous taxes here, and head over to a place like Switzerland. The UK Gov't actually pulled some dirty tricks regarding elements of the pharmas history and effectively forced them to stay put. I don't know too many details, but I know it involved HMRC, it never made it out into the public, though, so it's hard to tell exactly what went on.

Interesting. In the US  the corporate tax is 35% and in the UK its 20%. Switzerland may have lower taxes, but I'm sure there are other costs of operating there that are higher than other places.