Every business partnership – like every marriage – begins with the best of intentions and hopes for the future. But the unfortunate fact is that partnership breakup is far more common than success. Statistically speaking, eight out of every ten business partnerships have to be dissolved for one reason or another. Some breakups are amicable, and some are adversarial. The difference frequently rests on how well-crafted the original partnership documents were.

If you are in the process of forming a business partnership or have already formed one and are concerned about the potential for a partnership breakup, our experienced business attorneys can help. In the meantime, here is a brief rundown of some of the most famous business partnership breakups in history.

  • Facebook – When Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin founded Facebook, they never dreamed it would grow to the point that it did. As the social network grew more and more popular, the two had different visions about the site’s future, and Zuckerberg objected to Saverin’s lack of commitment to the venture. The partnership breakup resulted in Saverin losing all but a small share in the company.
  • The Beatles – The breakup of the Beatles was, without a doubt, one of the most famous and disappointing musical divorces. But few people realize that it started with a significant business conflict and that the band breakup was the result of bad blood resulting from disagreements between the business manager for John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr and the managers for Paul McCartney.
  • Reliance Industries – This partnership breakup took place in India and involved two brothers whose partnership followed their father’s founding of the largest private sector company. In 2000 Mukesh and Anil Ambani took over Reliance Industries, but because the two brothers could not agree on how to run the organization, one took the other to court. They ended up breaking Reliance into two separate companies, Reliance Industries and Reliance Natural Resources.
  • New Corporation – Rupert Murdoch is famously the owner of News Corporation, and when he purchased Star TV, a large satellite TV network based in Hong Kong, he did so with the intention of partnering with the owner, Richard Li. Despite these intentions, interference from the Chinese government led to the partnership being dissolved.

Contact our team today to discuss how our experienced business attorneys  can help you with a partnership breakup.