divestiture

American  

[dih-ves-ti-cher, -choor, dahy-] / dɪˈvɛs tɪ tʃər, -ˌtʃʊər, daɪ- /

Also divestment

noun

1. the act of divesting.

2. the state of being divested.

3. something, as property or investments, that has been divested.

   to reexamine the company's acquisitions and divestitures.

4. Also divesture the sale of business holdings or part of a company, especially under legal compulsion.

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divestiture Cultural  

1. The act of a corporation or conglomerate in getting rid of a subsidiary company or division. In a tactic to pressure South Africa to end apartheid, during the 1980s many Americans and Europeans urged divestiture on corporations doing business in South Africa.

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Etymology

Origin of divestiture

First recorded in 1595–1605; di- ² + (in)vestiture

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Explanation

Divestiture is the act of getting rid of something. In business, companies sometimes use divestiture to scale down and save money, by selling off assets. If a corporation owns smaller companies that make snack food, clothing, and roller skates, it may decide it's time to save some money through divestiture. Unfortunately, that probably means selling off the roller skate company. To sell or otherwise rid yourself of something is to divest, which comes from a French word meaning "strip of possessions" or "strip of clothing," and the Latin root vestire, "to clothe."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

divestiture

Under the Investment Canada Act, the government’s options in court include seeking financial penalties, forcing the company to abide by commitments and a forced divestiture of the Canadian assets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Sales fell a sharp 19%, to $790.2 million, after the prior-year launch of Nintendo Switch 2, planned store closures, and the divestiture of the company’s France operations, GameStop said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026

Sales fell sharply, by 19% to $790.2 million, after the prior-year launch of Nintendo Switch 2, planned store closures, and the divestiture of the company’s France operations, GameStop said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026

The deal is the latest divestiture under Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who is focused on stabilizing Boeing’s core jet and military businesses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

This divestiture of sensation proceeds to such an extent that there is nothing left beyond what M. Villey calls the pure form.

From Essays Towards a Theory of Knowledge by Alexander Philip

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Related Words

• disinvestment
• divestment

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