I'm fully aware this might be pushing the boundaries of what is an acceptable question, given that it's about an economics issue rather than the show itself, but here goes:
I've been watching the Season 2 opener of Arrow, entitled City of Angels. Oliver Queen's company is facing a hostile takeover from another group led by Isabel Rochev (played by the wonderful Summer Glau).
Early on in the episode, Felicity explains to Oliver why it's so important he returns to the city to protect his company. The following dialogue takes place:
Diggle: "...Your mother's in prison Oliver. Her trials's coming up. Thea's out on her own. Your family needs you."
Felicity: "So does the family business. All the bad press after the Undertaking left Queen Consolidated right for a hostile takeover by Stellmoor International. They've gutted every company they've taken over. Once they gobble up Queen Consolidated, 30,000 employees are going to be out of a job - including one very blonde IT expert.
I know nothing about economics but the italicised section confuses me. Why would a company buy another company and then just shut it down? Surely a mixture of bad publicity and loss of revenue would be extremely damaging. Why not just leave the company open and reap all this extra revenue, especially since competition with said company no longer exists.
I can understand buying a company and shutting it down later if it can't turn a profit, but when a hostile takeover of a highly successful company like Queen Consolidated takes place, the above dialogue leaves me confused.
Does anyone have any business reasons why it would make sense? Note - I do understand there might not be an answer to this and it might just be the show's way of demonstrating that the company are the baddies (by causing such huge job loss) and that Isabel really hates the Queens. That's acceptable as an answer. But it would be nice to know if the exchange above has any logical business sense.