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Company selling - what should I be aware of?

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  • Company selling - what should I be aware of?

    Longtimer asked: What should I be aware of? Everything...... Remember, you are not paranoid, if they really are out to get you! Dave

  • #2
    Company selling - what should I be aware of?

    Let's see, 'be assured, nothing will change' and the ownership of the company is 'changing'? Seems to be some incompatibility there. We just changed a few C-level peeps and they abandoned the platform. Expect and plan the worse for you personally and you should be okay.

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    • #3
      Company selling - what should I be aware of?

      'be assured, nothing will change' until they get your data on their system. rd

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      • #4
        Company selling - what should I be aware of?

        LongTimer, Change will happen. It always does in these situations. What is unknown is how long will it take and to what extent. Both your company and the buyers will be very positive at the very beginning of the process. They want to keep productivity up and not have a mass exodus of employees. If any of your company is unionized, the positive image will also keep the union leaders happy because they can report to their members that everything will be good. The reality is that, most of the time, the leaders of both companies are lying. Being purchased by an investor group is really bad news. They will slash and burn until they get the "right" profit numbers. They only care about the short-term. Chances are good that the "expensive" iSeries will be hacked away. They'll look at what the maintenance costs are for hardware and software and be shocked. The most extreme example of this I've seen is a company I was working at was bought by an investor group. The leader of the group exclaimed that the AS/400 was too expensive and the company should be able to be run on a spreadsheet. The company was not small. It was mid-size until the investors got hold of it. It is now small and is almost out of business. This, of course, is after the investors took their profits out of the company. I hate to be a pessimist but you need to be aware of the possibilities, no matter how extreme they may seem. The other extreme is another company I was working at was bought by a company in the same industry. Rather than make short-term changes, they actually studied the situation and only made changes that made sense. They kept the AS/400 and most of the I.T. staff. Eventhough the companies had disparate hardware and software, the buying company's leaders were willing to work with the staff and not make too many changes. Some cuts were made, though. Your situation may be somewhere in the middle. You need to be ready to justify your existence at the company and make sure the leaders of your company know how valuable you are to them. You need to "blow your own horn" and get contacts in your company that can help you get another job in case you get cut. There's also the obvious things to do: have an updated resume, have an updated networking/contact list, start listing other organizations you may be able to work at, decide now if you are willing to relocate for a new job. Eventhough this can be an uncertain and scary time, you need to keep an upbeat attitude about yourself and your abilities. The worse thing is to come across negative in interviews. No company wants to hire anyone who comes across as a disgruntled former employee. That's all I can think of now. Others may have different experiences that are be more positive. Tom.

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        • #5
          Company selling - what should I be aware of?

          My 2 cents: in a merger, it is either between 2 equals or 2 unequal entities. In a merger between 2 equals, the organization with the best IT practice prevails. Practice is a combination of hardware/software, application and people. The members of the management teams from both sides will use a methodology like Kepner-Tregoe problem solving and decision making to weigh in all the variables to accomplish the business objective, anticipate the potential problems, and mapped out the contingency plan. Therefore your chance being canned is 50%. In a merger between 2 unequals, 2 scenarios will likely to happen, The IT of the buying entity is the king, the game of politics is at play, if their is a duplication of function your position will be rewarded to the victors. If their is no duplication and nobody in the buying entity is capable of doing your job ( ex. you are an AS400 shop and the the other entity is not an AS400 shop) you can hold on to your chair for a while. But remember, they will keep you for a single reason - a smooth turnover. If both entities/shops use AS400 and their is no duplication, then this is a leverage buyout, the most abused word in management jargon for this scenario is SYNERGY ( 1+1 =3). In the latter, you will keep your job, but do a Reagan line of thinking- Trust but verify.... GOOD LUCK.

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          • #6
            Company selling - what should I be aware of?

            If the group of investors is buying because of "potential", then tcsbiz is probably correct about being careful unless the iBox is absolutely critical to the company (ie, it runs some kind of app that isn't easily bought or recreated on a PC server(s)). If it isn't then expect trouble because private investors are invariably absent from the planning because they use middlemen to do the planning and decisionmaking for them. The investors aren't experts, won't learn the business, and only expect profits no matter how they are generated. The salary slashing to them is profit even though they usually have no idea of the damage they may be doing to the company. The new management is usually supposed to be MBAs who have all sorts of experience doing this, that and the other but actually bounce around various industries and never really gather a lot of explicit knowledge about their jobs. Watch for CEOs or CFOs who have experience in "transitioning" companies and not much in actually running companies. One job (brick and mortar IT) I was at was bought out by a "techie" company supposedly very advanced and sophisticated. It turns out they actually were on the rocks before a round of IPO funding saved them from bankruptcy; 3 years later, we were bankrupted after they burned through 30+ million dollars and some 5-6 million cash of our company. The so-called board of investors even sent investigators out to see where the money was going; they never investigated our company because the "corporate" hq was in Atlanta and the ceo et al. were actively discouraging them from coming to California where all the money was actually being made. ALL the "techie" advances in Atlanta that were so "brilliant" never went anywhere and actually were absolute failures. An attempt to replace our iBox was an abysmal piece of junk; we were too nice to explain that 70+ developers couldn't replace an iBox with a bunch of crappy early Linux blades. It was really pathetic, but the idea was to save a lot of money by replacing the iBoxes' high overhead (maintenance, etc.). They couldn't even get a 1.5 million record client db to retrieve correctly through a web browser. Lest you think that I am biased by solely that experience, there are 2 close friends of mine who have been through 4 buyouts (large Hollywood companies) and basically, each time the IT groups were burned. Sometimes, both sides lost in the political struggle. Private investors are nice in the short term if you work in a place that needs funding to jump up a level; if your company is doing well, expect cuts to improve the bottom line. CYA for sure.

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            • #7
              Company selling - what should I be aware of?

              All political promises made during merge will be forgotten once the buyer gets your data, clients, and profit. Reality may be very dark, so be prepared to move fast before the whole thing collapses above your head. Our company is in the same situation now. We have as400 with all applications perfectly integrated. Our buyer has messy infrastructure with all possible platform/database solutions from alpha cluster and cobol to .NET, and applications isolated from each other, some developed in-house, some bought off the shelf, some brought from other acquisitions. Obviously, we were optimistic about our future, because our IT model was looking much better then theirs. In addition to that, buyer’s management was very nice and never said that they would get rid of as400. Guess what… they needed us to keep apps running while they were moving all business to their platforms client by client. And now, one by one, our applications are going out of the business. The next step will be to let us go… Hopefully, you will have another scenario, but don’t be caught by surprise, take care of yourself. It’s easier to get a new job still having the old one. Good luck.

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              • #8
                Company selling - what should I be aware of?

                IMO - don't sit back & wait banking on reassurance from the management, start looking around for a new position now, best case, you won't have to switch, worst case, you are prepared to change employers. Couple of extra things... #1: watch/listen for any indications of your position no longer being needed (aka iSeries platform being dropped) #2: think about what makes you needed by the company - are you expendable - be ready to provide proof to new management that they need to keep you & what you offer (knowledge, work ethic, personality). HTH - Lee.

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                • #9
                  Company selling - what should I be aware of?

                  That's so everyone doesn't bang thier head on the front door as they rush out and look for a new job. You're IT dept is going to be outsourced, offshored or augmented overseas. Take the corporate euphemism of the day and bank on it. If they haven't announced a hiring freeze yet, then that's coming next. All of sudden VP's will want special reports they never asked for (if that already hasn't happened yet). They will keep a core of a few key, well liked people and the rest will get called into a room one day and be told it's their last day and get handed a nice compensation package (This helps against lawsuits). They might even help with placement for a new job through a professional agency that helps you with interviewing and resume setup. The new investors are looking to cut costs and show immediate savings so that big IT staff is basically toast. This isn't conjecture, it's already written into their business plan. I hope you are among the ones that get to stay. Good Luck!

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                  • #10
                    Company selling - what should I be aware of?

                    I agree 100% with what's been said, and I will add on another 10%. I've witnessed this first-hand, oh, about 4 times in my career; but none of these happened at large corporation. If you want to stay on top of the game, start looking for a new place of employment YESTERDAY. Until something materializes, then you are out nothing but time. If something does, then you will have a decision to make. The key is, however, the decision will be YOURS, not your current employer. and YOU will be in control your life, not someone else. I truly wish you the very best. Times are not good for us.

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                    • #11
                      Company selling - what should I be aware of?

                      I think a very good analogy to today's corporate culture that which occurs with dictatorships. What happens there (as it did with Stalin), is this: The dictator selects a few key people whom he purports to "trust". The trusted then performs his dirty work, that is, purge the government of any opponents. Then, once that is done, and fear has taken hold among the population, the dictator selects a new group of followers. The new followers then, are charged with the dirty work of purging the first group---the "trusted". Once this is done, then the dictator has what he wants: Absolute Power. Now a simple replacement of words to make it relevant: The [new corporation] selects a few key people whom the [new corporation] purports to "trust" [to help them with the transition]. The trusted then performs their dirty work, that is, purge the [work force] of [all except those who can keep their systems running]. Then, once that is done, and [confidence] has taken hold among the among [those who remain], the [new corporation] selects a new group of [outsourcers]. The new [outsourcers, OR a company who specializes in firing people] then, are charged with the dirty work of [firing] the first group---the "trusted". Once this is done, then the [new corporation] has what [they] wants: [NO IT DEPARTMENT]. Scary huh?! :-)

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                      • #12
                        Company selling - what should I be aware of?

                        I posted this because my gut feeling BAD when the announcement that we are selling was made. I thought "well maybe I am just afraid of change" so I posted to get some outside feedback. My gut feeling is getting just worse and worse after reading the posts. Oh well. Guess I had better look out for myself. Thank you all for posting.

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                        • #13
                          Company selling - what should I be aware of?

                          Realize one big truth: Things are NOT going to stay the same. TIME's, THEY WILL BE A CHANGIN'. None of my peers addressed a most important issue. What do you want to do with your life? This is a great opportunity to determine (jointly with your family) some very key "life style" questions: Do you want to continue in your current profession? Do you enjoy what you do? Does the stress effect you? Do you want to explore a different speciality within IT? Do you want to do something entirely new? Teaching? Small business? Do you want to live in the same area for the rest of your life? IF NOT: Where do you want to go? When? There are other questions that you also may address... How much time you want for family, hobbies, community, etc. How comfortable you are financially? When the soul searching is done... Create a plan to change your life to your specifications. You don't have to rush into it. Use your current position to transition to what/where you want to go. And remember to take advantage of your current and new employers. (Believe me, they will take advantage of you!) If they offer tuition refunds, and you need education, use them. If you want to move to an area where they do business, ask for a transfer. If you'd like to go into another area of IT, let it be known. The changes will happen whether or NOT you want them to. You'll do best if you direct the changes to make the life you want. Best of luck.

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                          • #14
                            Company selling - what should I be aware of?

                            I work for a very very large corporation. It recently was announced that we are being sold to the highest bidder. We have a very large IT staff. I work as a system administrator for iSeries. There is talk that we may be purchased by a private group of investors but nobody knows yet. What should I be aware of? What key things have others seen transpire as their company was purchased? Overall the entire process has been very positive in that management wants us to be assured nothing will change.

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                            • #15
                              Company selling - what should I be aware of?

                              The thing about companies saying that nothing is going to change: they only mean it in an extremely limited sense and timeframe. First of all, they are aware of the uncertainty that ownership changes bring. People talk, and employees are asking pointed questions. So the company tries to reassure and avoid panic. The company also has a serious conflict of interest. They are most assuredly interested in reorganizing. However, they need to prevent too many employees from leaving. In a larger sense, they need to keep the business viable and profitable too. In the end, the company wants to change. However they want to do it on their timeframe, according to their priorities. And they don't want to have their hand forced by employees making preemptive decisions of their own. So take whatever they say with a huge grain of salt. It's possible that little will change for you and your co-workers. It's just not very likely over the long run.

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