[VA Advogado]

Maybe simply the asking price is too high?

[GovernmentShrinker]

No, it's the unknown liability that's too high (in fact, the asking price is probably the proverbial one dollar). AA has attempted to find an insurer to insure a buyer against liability stemming from AA's past activities. The financial press is reporting that all insurance companies have turned them down. Without insurance, and with the very real possibility that several more $billion+ problems are just waiting to be discovered, nobody wants the Andersen entity even for $1.

The head of one of the other Big 5 is reported to have stated the obvious: "I just want their accounts and their talent (paraphrasing from memory). Those are readily available without purchasing the firm. The accounts are fleeing faster than anyone can keep track, the "talent" which worked on those accounts will be promptly laid off, the firm which picks up each client will try to pick up the "talent" which is already familiar with the client, and most of said "talent", being unemployed, will jump at the offer. AA is likely to become a corporate shell consisting of nothing but a huge pile of known and potential liabilities, and it will die slowly and quietly in the file cabinets of various bankruptcy courts.