Divestiture Legal Meaning and Definition

Here is a simplified definition of the legal term Divestiture.

Divestiture (noun)

1. The action where an individual, company or government willingly or legally forced gives up possession, control or rights over something, primarily assets or business units. This usually occurs to prevent antitrust issues, monopolies or other hindrances to free competition in trade.

Example: "The corporation faced a divestiture of it's holdings in the oil industry due to antitrust laws."