In what would be the largest financial-services merger ever, Britain’s Barclays PLC bid for the NLs’ largest bank, ABN Amro NV, for $91.16 billion. The result: a worldwide banking giant.

Working your way up is overrated. Companies are increasingly just buying their way to the top of global markets.

BABY FOOD TASTES SWEET

In an all-cash, $5.5 billion deal, Nestlé will buy the Gerber baby-food business from Swiss pharma giant Novartis. The purchase catapults Nestlé to the top of the…