As an AHP retiree and stockholder, I believe you hit it right on the head in your statement re: counter cultures. Another way to say it is "opposing egos." Monsanto and AHP couldn't agree on who (and how) would run the company.

AHP CEO/Chairman, John Stafford, has an MO that it easily recognizable. He accumulates money until he finds the right takeover and then he strikes. I was with American Cyanamid when he gobbled them up. They were woefully unprepared and he knew exactly what he was doing. A strategy well planned and executed.

AHP is a Class A corporation but customers are not their prime interest. The bottom line is. People who do not agree with John Stafford are wrong and they will either get out of the way or get eaten.

Stafford may have another agenda. He may be looking to make his mark on American industry and the world at large by making a herculean mark in history - such as forming the largest pharmaceutical company - before he retires. My money is with him.

The Warner Lambert merger is a great example of his ability. He lost two mergers with Smith-Kline-Beacham and Monsanto. With Warner Lambert, if he loses, he gets the option to purchase 14.9% of Warner Lambert AND Warner Lambert has to pay him $2 billion. Not bad for a losing side. Sounds sort of win-win to me.

He has established a watch-word for his operating managers: double digit performance or out. Make no mistake that he follows it. If poor performance is not due solely to the manager but to some market condition, the manager is still out and the business segment may be sold also. It truly is results or else.

Anyway, you are not alone. I am still in there and betting significant assets that he will make me better for it.