Mergers and acquisitions are easy compared to the opposite—when business partners or subsidiaries go their separate ways. Generational problems, the loss of a partner's interest in or desire to continue to earn his keep, divergent business goals, greed and jealousy are just some of the reasons an otherwise successful business can break up. No executive or professional whose career is tied to a non-public entity is immune from the possibility that the owners of the firm or company will have an irreparable break-up.