Want to buy Subway for $13 billion?

At a time when the value of an increasing number of United States companies is exceeding the once-unthinkable US$1 trillion (S$1.34 trillion) mark, it feels odd to ask whether businesses can be too big to be profitable. And yet, that is the very question sandwich chain Subway Restaurants is asking itself right now – and it may not like the answer.

Although its distinctive green-and-yellow signs have become a fixture of fast casual dining, the closely held franchise has yet to find a buyer six months after putting itself up for sale, asking for US$10 billion (S$13.4 billion).