If you’re a shareholder and ever thought that you got a bad deal in a merger, take a look at this analysis in the New York Times.

Andrew Ross Sorkin asks the perfectly reasonable question: “Is there a better way to pay banks that advise the players in a large corporate merger? Recent mergers on the Strip seem to have succeeded, but Sorkin notes some other deals have gone sour. Key advisers still walked away with a big pay off.

The other question, left unanswered here, is: What “strategic advice” do merging companies get for their six-figure payments?

Management must have figured out what the benefits of a merger would be, or why else would they be considering the deal. As Sorkin implies, targets and their suitors are paying an awful lot for some cheer leaders when they really need some skeptics to play devil’s advocate.