Media acquisitions once came with fringe benefits: Coldplay or Robbie Williams tickets if you were Guy Hands buying EMI, or the status of saving the local paper in the case of Sam Zell when he led a takeover of the Chicago Tribune’s publisher.

The bitter experience of those who, like Mr Hands and Mr Zell, struck highly leveraged deals just before the credit bubble burst in 2007 might be enough to deter anyone from future media takeovers.