Divestiture

A dee-vest-ti-tchooor, as we’d say if this word was French, (it’s actually like “divest-i-ture”) is when an organization (including companies and governments) axes a division (or department, or whatever you wanna call it). TLDR: it’s when an org cuts off a limb. Hopefully for the best though, so no worries.

The only constant is change, right? Divestiture might happen when there’s some internal organization to make operations better fit a company’s goal, or maybe when that “limb” is no longer raking in the big bucks (profits). Divestiture can also happen when two companies become one, merging. This could be because it doesn’t make sense to have two accounting departments, or because the government says “you guys aren’t allowed to have two heads” for consumer protection reasons (avoiding monopolies).

But, like we said, companies aren’t the only ones doing the divestiture dance. Governments might cut the fat when they realize private companies are doing a better job than them at some things. This really only applies though when a government has some state-owned companies, like socialist governments. Still, this could happen in the U.S., say if firefighter services or public schools were shut down and “divested” in favor of private firefighters and private schools only.