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

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

It would have “dominant” market shares in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, “triggering major antitrust, divestiture, alliance, execution and valuation risks,” Fitzgerald said.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

The Supersonic divestiture, which the analysts say hadn’t been previously telegraphed, introduces some short-term uncertainty around timing and deal terms.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

Global Payments said last month that it had completed its divestiture from its Issuer Solutions business.

From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026

Stripping out certain one-time items—such as a $513 million impairment charge tied to the divestiture of its remaining Magellan Health businesses—Centene reported a loss of $1.19 a share.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

Until the cataclysmic divestiture of the 1980s, Ma Bell was perhaps the ultimate maternalist mega-employer.

From The Hacker Crackdown, law and disorder on the electronic frontier by Sterling, Bruce

Related Words

• disinvestment
• divestment