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I once worked for a company that was acquired - the founder wanted to cash in on his success and retire early. In the first all-company meeting after the closin

by mark-r 12y ago

I once worked for a company that was acquired - the founder wanted to cash in on his success and retire early. In the first all-company meeting after the closing, the CEO gloated over how cheaply he was able to get us. That was really grating. The advice about watching for unsavory tactics is spot on.

api 12y ago
He gloated like this with you in the room? I'm only a little shocked... not that he'd gloat, but that he wouldn't think about the effect this might have on the morale of his new hires.
- mark-r 12y ago
  He was back at HQ, and we were watching remotely. But the effect was the same.
  - r00fus 12y ago
    Still - how would you feel as an employee of the acquiring company? Especially knowing that the newly-acquired employees are listening in? At best, awkward. It's just complete verbal diarrhea and he should retract it (though the damage is mostly already done).
    - mark-r 12y ago
      This was 10 years ago, and all the acquired employees were laid off within a few years.
- dethstar 12y ago
  Maybe in their head they thought of it like "oh you all are great I can't believe I just had to paid X for this/you, it was totally a steal!"
  - etjossem 12y ago
    Even when you rephrase it charitably, it still sounds like the acquirer's CEO is talking trash about someone these employees have followed for years. At best, it's a "you guys are great, but your ex-boss is a terrible negotiator and didn't know what you were worth." There's no reason to say that aloud.
    - mark-r 12y ago
      It wasn't that the founder was a bad negotiator, he was just outsmarted. The agreed share price was tied to a metric that the acquirer understood much better than the founder.
      - etjossem 12y ago
        Either way, it's a weird thing for the acquiring CEO to boast about at an all-hands.
- Crito 12y ago
  Seems kind of like keying the used car you just bought. It only damages the value of something you just paid money for; even if you think you got a good deal it is still a stupid thing to do.
kbenson 12y ago
Maybe it's a fine line between praising how useful the new acquire is and how much value they can add. The opposite would be stating that they paid too much, which may imply the company will underperform. Finally, if they paid the exact value of the new company, including it's future uses and newly imparted abilities, that doesn't really imply anything useful was done besides keeping the status quo. Obviously I wasn't there to interpret the remark, but maybe it was intended as a compliment as to how useful the new company and it's employees were, and how much they can now do without breaking the bank to do it?
- mark-r 12y ago
  Unfortunately it was long enough ago that I can't remember the exact speech, but the meaning was very clear at the time. And he never seemed to care much about the company or products, merely about the revenue it was going to add to their bottom line.
  - cubano 12y ago
    .. merely about the revenue it was going to add to their bottom line. In the business domain, is there really anything else to care about? If there is, I have yet to see it in my 25+ years in software development.
    - mooreds 12y ago
      I think that 'good' businesses, or at least 'good' senior execs, care about more than the bottom line. Note that they still care about the bottom line because, hey, they have to make payroll. But there are businesses out there that care about more than the bottom line. 'Good To Great' and 'Start With Why' are good books that document such businesses.
    - crdoconnor 12y ago
      >In the business domain, is there really anything else to care about? Unless you are a sociopath, the wellbeing of your employees and customers.
oxryly1 12y ago
Sounds like the CEO mixed up his shareholder speech and his all-company meeting speech.
- chrisweekly 12y ago
  I'm very interested in how precisely these two speeches ought to differ, in your opinion. If you are running a company in an internally transparent way, what specific differences do you suggest are appropriate?
  - georgemcbay 12y ago
    I would suspect (though I am not a fancy CEO man) that it is generally best not to talk to employees about what a great deal you got on them, like they are cogs in your supply chain that you got on clearance. It would only be marginally better if you complained about how expensive they were (especially if many of them benefited from the sale minimally as common stock employees). I think it would be better to, you know, welcome them to the team and treat them like people.
  - oxryly1 12y ago
    Surely don't even mention any acquisition price in the all-company speech... just welcome the new people.
  - drzaiusapelord 12y ago
    Because your relationship with staff should be cordial and professional and mocking them because you managed to get them (this includes their salary/benefits) cheaply is petty. Companies have an incentive to keep salaries low but also keep employee morale high. These two conflict.
bbcbasic 12y ago
This reminds me of a UK Office episode where David Brent announces the bad news 'there will be redundancies' then he announces the good news 'I got promoted!' Oh here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS8WWjR7O98 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS8WWjR7O98

by mark-r 12y ago

api 12y ago

He gloated like this with you in the room? I'm only a little shocked... not that he'd gloat, but that he wouldn't think about the effect this might have on the morale of his new hires.

mark-r 12y ago
He was back at HQ, and we were watching remotely. But the effect was the same.
- r00fus 12y ago
  Still - how would you feel as an employee of the acquiring company? Especially knowing that the newly-acquired employees are listening in? At best, awkward. It's just complete verbal diarrhea and he should retract it (though the damage is mostly already done).
  - mark-r 12y ago
    This was 10 years ago, and all the acquired employees were laid off within a few years.
dethstar 12y ago
Maybe in their head they thought of it like "oh you all are great I can't believe I just had to paid X for this/you, it was totally a steal!"
- etjossem 12y ago
  Even when you rephrase it charitably, it still sounds like the acquirer's CEO is talking trash about someone these employees have followed for years. At best, it's a "you guys are great, but your ex-boss is a terrible negotiator and didn't know what you were worth." There's no reason to say that aloud.
  - mark-r 12y ago
    It wasn't that the founder was a bad negotiator, he was just outsmarted. The agreed share price was tied to a metric that the acquirer understood much better than the founder.
    - etjossem 12y ago
      Either way, it's a weird thing for the acquiring CEO to boast about at an all-hands.
Crito 12y ago
Seems kind of like keying the used car you just bought. It only damages the value of something you just paid money for; even if you think you got a good deal it is still a stupid thing to do.

kbenson 12y ago

Maybe it's a fine line between praising how useful the new acquire is and how much value they can add. The opposite would be stating that they paid too much, which may imply the company will underperform. Finally, if they paid the exact value of the new company, including it's future uses and newly imparted abilities, that doesn't really imply anything useful was done besides keeping the status quo. Obviously I wasn't there to interpret the remark, but maybe it was intended as a compliment as to how useful the new company and it's employees were, and how much they can now do without breaking the bank to do it?

mark-r 12y ago
Unfortunately it was long enough ago that I can't remember the exact speech, but the meaning was very clear at the time. And he never seemed to care much about the company or products, merely about the revenue it was going to add to their bottom line.
- cubano 12y ago
  .. merely about the revenue it was going to add to their bottom line. In the business domain, is there really anything else to care about? If there is, I have yet to see it in my 25+ years in software development.
  - mooreds 12y ago
    I think that 'good' businesses, or at least 'good' senior execs, care about more than the bottom line. Note that they still care about the bottom line because, hey, they have to make payroll. But there are businesses out there that care about more than the bottom line. 'Good To Great' and 'Start With Why' are good books that document such businesses.
  - crdoconnor 12y ago
    >In the business domain, is there really anything else to care about? Unless you are a sociopath, the wellbeing of your employees and customers.

oxryly1 12y ago

Sounds like the CEO mixed up his shareholder speech and his all-company meeting speech.

chrisweekly 12y ago
I'm very interested in how precisely these two speeches ought to differ, in your opinion. If you are running a company in an internally transparent way, what specific differences do you suggest are appropriate?
- georgemcbay 12y ago
  I would suspect (though I am not a fancy CEO man) that it is generally best not to talk to employees about what a great deal you got on them, like they are cogs in your supply chain that you got on clearance. It would only be marginally better if you complained about how expensive they were (especially if many of them benefited from the sale minimally as common stock employees). I think it would be better to, you know, welcome them to the team and treat them like people.
- oxryly1 12y ago
  Surely don't even mention any acquisition price in the all-company speech... just welcome the new people.
- drzaiusapelord 12y ago
  Because your relationship with staff should be cordial and professional and mocking them because you managed to get them (this includes their salary/benefits) cheaply is petty. Companies have an incentive to keep salaries low but also keep employee morale high. These two conflict.

bbcbasic 12y ago

This reminds me of a UK Office episode where David Brent announces the bad news 'there will be redundancies' then he announces the good news 'I got promoted!' Oh here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS8WWjR7O98 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS8WWjR7O98