[skawrcht-urth] 
| a military practice of devastating the property and agriculture of an area before abandoning it to an advancing enemy. |
Scorched Earth Policy
An anti-takeover strategy that a firm undertakes by liquidating its valuable and desired assets and assuming liabilities in an effort to make the proposed takeover unattractive to the acquiring firm.
Investopedia Commentary
In extreme cases, this strategy might end up being a 'suicide pill'.
The scorched earth policy is actually a classic military strategy: generals would instruct troops to burn any land/crops/trees as they retreated so there would be no supplies to refresh the advancing army.
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See also: Busted Takeover, Enterprise Value, Hostile Takeover, Jonestown Defense, Management Buyout - MBO, Merger, Poison Pill, Sandbag, Saturday Night Special, Shark Repellent, Sleeping Beauty, Suicide Pill, Voting Shares, Whitemail