this is where an mba comes in handy... he's basically saying that the company is spending too much on prople (among other things) so a private equity firm (the

this is where an mba comes in handy... he's basically saying that the company is spending too much on prople (among other things) so a private equity firm (the financial buyer, as opposed to a strategic buyer) will see an opportunity to buy the company and fire a bunch of people (including engineers), which will improve the profitability of the company. because valuation is the net present value of projected earnings, and because pojections are typically based on recent performance, the company will have a higher valuation and will sell at a higher price. being armed with debt means that the PE firm can buy all the equity for a fraction of the price and make out like bandits on the sale. so the quality of the engineering team doesn't factor in at all. =/