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

Divestiture was not on the board’s agenda, and the regents listened but did not substantively respond to protesters.

From Seattle Times • May 9, 2024

Divestiture, or full privatization, occurs when government services are transferred, usually through sale, from government bureaucratic control into an entirely market-based, private environment.

From Textbooks • Jul. 28, 2021

After being nominated, Mr. Tillerson was granted a so-called Certificate of Divestiture that allowed him to sell off Exxon stock without having to immediately pay capital gains taxes on those holdings.

From New York Times • Dec. 1, 2017

Divestiture will be one of the items on the agenda when Ted Eliopoulos, CalPERS chief investment officer, testifies before the board's investment committee Monday.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 18, 2015

"Divestiture does nothing to address that problem," he said, calling divestment "purely symbolic, divisive and largely ineffective."

From Scientific American • Apr. 10, 2015

Related Words

• disinvestment
• divestment