Experience from the other side... I've acquired and had to integrate several companies. I can remember writing the operational playbook that was used to handle

Experience from the other side... I've acquired and had to integrate several companies. I can remember writing the operational playbook that was used to handle the types of questions you are asking. After acquiring the companies I also had to manage them for several years and hopefully this sheds some light on what you're asking. 2 top level things. The acquired entity can stay together as a whole or it can be broken up into its functional pieces. While there are exceptions, the back office functions and people (accounting, finance, admin, etc) will usually get folded into the back office functions of the acquiring entity. If you are an employee in this function, most likely you will get absorbed or let go. Depending on what the terms and goals around the acquisition the other functions and roles will be absorbed. For example, if the goal is to find "synergies" then redundant or non critical resources might be reassigned or let go. In one acquisition I kept the product, engineering and business development team completely whole and located in their own building and tried to not mess with the success they had but just give them what they needed. We planned what we wanted to accomplish and then I just let them run and help get the bureaucracy out of the way. Cultural fit is hard and important. When I acquired another company we tried to fold them in and it was hard on everyone. Within 2 years only 1 engineer remained and he was the one that was hired right before the acquisition so it wasn't as big if a cultural impact to him. If the culture of the entities don't jibe, it can create an unhealthy tension. Best advice I can give you is to understand the goals of the acquisition, how your role maps or fits into the combined entity, the level of specialization your role has and what your personal goals are. It will be a process. I've been wildly successful and a terrible failure. My take away is that the goals and people matter. Hope this helps give you some perspective.