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

“A forced divestiture of Ticketmaster remains very unlikely,” Supino wrote last month.

From Barron's • May 5, 2026

GlobalFoundries was formed through the divestiture of Advanced Micro Devices manufacturing arm in 2009.

From Barron's • May 4, 2026

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 sale fetches about C$3.3 million, and the company says it has now realized about C$65.8 million in gross proceed from the divestiture of U.S. assets.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

Let the enfranchisement be made a tentative thing; and let there be a provision for the divestiture of the Indian of the right, in case disaster to him should supervene upon its application.

From A Treatise on the Six-Nation Indians by Mackenzie, J. B. (James Bovell)

Related Words

• disinvestment
• divestment