Investment banks make a pretty good living out of advising companies to acquire other companies, but are not likely to take their own advice. According to Reuters, the investment banks tend to avoid merging with each other because it's just too expensive – Merrill Lynch, for example, is valued at more than $68 billion -- and would not be in shareholders' best interests. "The execution is so hard," Michael Hintze of London-based hedge fund CQS Management told Reuters. "If you get it wrong, all the bankers leave" – or at least many of them, as was the case, for example, when Credit Suisse acquired brokerage Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in 2000. Instead of acquisitions, says Reuters, more investment banks are branching out through developing their own in-house specialty groups, acquiring just specific teams or boutique businesses, or forming joint ventures with other companies.