This data-file looks back at the fate of technology-leaders, i.e., the companies that developed the top ten, most-impactful new oil technologies of the 1980s and 1990s.
Nine out of ten were bought by larger companies; the one exception being a largest Integrated Service company, which was therefore too large to be acquired.
Take-over premiums ranged from c3-32%, suggesting that ultimately shareholders are rewarded for investing in technology-leaders.
However, timing is unpredictable and long-dated. It took 5-20-years from the technologies’ invention to the inventors’ acquisition.