Overpaying for acquisitions: No one cares, it seems, unless they break bad

How much is too much to pay for a strategic acquisition of a hot company, tech or trend? Almost everyone gets away with it unless they have to say they're sorry, which they often do.

I am working diligently to put together lectures for the class on financial accounting I’ll teach Wharton MBAs this fall. I am always looking for fresh examples ripped from the headlines, even better if I’ve written about them and can talk about them easily.

I was working on the lectures about accounting for tangible assets (PP&E) and long-lived intangib…