Declining Industry

Paper and pulp. Horse-shoeing. Tobacco (thankfully). A declining industry is one where the sector as a whole sees sustained revenue and profit declines over a period of time. Most of the time these industries rely on products made obsolete by new technologies. Think of video rental stores, typewriter manufacturers, or shopping malls.

Time for a classical quote on the subject of declining industry (dim the lights, put on your smoking jacket, and poor out some wine). In the movie Other People’s Money, a character nicknamed Larry the Liquidator, played by Danny DeVito, gave what most of the world considers to be The Gettysburg Address of descriptions of a declining industry. It goes like this [clears throat, assumes thespian posture]:

"You know, at one time there must've been dozens of companies makin' buggy whips. And I'll bet the last company around was the one that made the best d*** buggy whip you ever saw. Now how would you have liked to have been a stockholder in that company?"