Comments for Surviving M&A

Comment on Reader Stories on being acquired by Mark

Mark — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 19:58:36 +0000

I am part way through a merger which has been very interesting. My company was bought by another firm with about the same number of employees but a lot more available capital. So the feeling (and the PR) initially was this was a merger of equals. Nope – as we all know by now, the BUYING entity is the winner and calls the shots. In three months my manager has been fired, I have been demoted and moved to another unit with another manager, then moved back into another role (maybe a promotion) with a third manager. I got a bonus this year which was a surprise. And I survived two reductions in force. My main counter-intuitive advice so far is, don’t be too eager to take on new work that is without an “owner” after the merger. I’ve seen a lot of my colleagues take on new projects before they understood the new organization, and set audacious goals to prove their worth only to miss project deadlines within two weeks because so much stuff was out of their control. You need to be picky, otherwise you will set yourself up to fail.

Comment on How to tell if your company is being acquired? by Global Indian

Global Indian — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:55:05 +0000

If your manager starts acting strangely such as being a bit disinterested in the current project or suddenly being less pushy about stuff. Depending on the situation, the manager may be a bit too enthusiastic or as in my case a bit too depressed.

Comment on What happens if you ARE fired or made redundant after a merger? by Be your own boss « Surviving M&A

Be your own boss « Surviving M&A — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:55:33 +0000

[...] Make the most of your company being acquired and in earlier posts on this blog (see, for example, ‘What happens if you ARE fired or made redundant after a merger?’), I have mentioned that one of the first things that you need to do if your company is being [...]

Comment on How to tell if your company is being acquired? by If your CEO changes, prepare yourself! « Surviving M&A

If your CEO changes, prepare yourself! « Surviving M&A — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:15:52 +0000

[...] and before others! You’ll want to combine it with our suggestions (in the post ‘How to tell if your company is being acquired?‘) which discuss some of the weaker signals that would indicate that you should be preparing [...]

Comment on What to do first if your company’s being acquired? by If your CEO changes, prepare yourself! « Surviving M&A

If your CEO changes, prepare yourself! « Surviving M&A — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:15:47 +0000

[...] you just heard your company’s being acquiried or making an acquisition (see the post ‘What to do first if your company’s being acquired?‘ which has some suggestions about the necessary defensive measures to [...]

Comment on Reader Tips & Suggestions by KonstantinMiller

KonstantinMiller — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:57:47 +0000

I have been looking looking around for this kind of information. Will you post some more in future? I’ll be grateful if you will.