The target company defends itself by selling off its crown jewels WordNet 3.0 & Open English WordNet

A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy of destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind of tools and infrastructure. Wikipedia

Military strategy or operational policy of destroying everything useful to the enemy in areas that cannot be defended. Wikipedia Disambiguation

Military strategy Wikidata

A strategy that involves destroying buildings, crops, and other resources that could be useful to opponents. Wiktionary