Company Acquistions

[selmore1]

Has anyone on this board been working at a company that was acquired while they were there? Found out yesterday that we were being acquired. Just curious if anyone has any advice regarding this or any stories they can pass along.
This post was edited on 12/17 5:13 PM by selmore1

 

[spg109876ers]

 

[PeterN]

1) Find out why Duff & Phelps made the acquisition.
2) Determine if your job/group overlaps with areas of Duff & Phelps
3) Pay attention when reporting lines/org charts are announced
4) If you work in a branch office that overlaps with Duff & Phelps be concerned
5) If you work in a staff position (IT, HR, Controllers, Treasury) be concerned
6) update your CV and LinkedIn profile
7) increase the number of contacts with your network
8) Do not take any bad news personally. There is a good chance your position could be eliminated due to redundancies

 

[HereComeTheCats]

mmmmm.......Duff and Phelps.....

I worked for a firm that was struggling financially and ended up getting acquired by a much larger company about 6 years ago. The job market was terrible at the time (thanks Obama) so I was very concerned. Turnover was really high at the time at my old company because so many people were trying to get ahead of the eventual acquisition which they thought was going to be a massacre. I decided to stay because I liked what I was doing and didn't like my prospects in the shaky market.

They bought us as a top-line play so I never felt too concerned about post-acq layoffs. I was more worried about my old company shutting off the lights and shutting down before a deal could be found and finalized.

This post was edited on 12/16 3:32 PM by HereComeTheCats

 

[spg109876ers]

Sorry for the pic, it was on TV recently, natural play for a 4.6er. Good luck (incidentally, I think the whole game is shite, probably only one on here).

 

[JMerc2]

What whole game? Life?
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[spg109876ers]

Life is gr8. Civilization sucks.

 

[NickleDimer]

If leadership has half a brain, early in the process, they will make it abundantly clear to people that will be retained that they will be retained.

 

[djrun85]

Originally posted by PeterN:
1) Find out why Duff & Phelps made the acquisition.
2) Determine if your job/group overlaps with areas of Duff & Phelps
3) Pay attention when reporting lines/org charts are announced
4) If you work in a branch office that overlaps with Duff & Phelps be concerned
5) If you work in a staff position (IT, HR, Controllers, Treasury) be concerned
6) update your CV and LinkedIn profile
7) increase the number of contacts with your network
8) Do not take any bad news personally. There is a good chance your position could be eliminated due to redundancies

Agree with PeterN. From the press release, it looks like they acquired in order to establish a new practice without having to build from scratch. If that is your expertise (and if it's true), you've got a better shot. As Peter mentioned, assuming the practice and the skillset of the consultants aren't redundant, your biggest concerns should be if you are in an operations or support role (HR, IT, etc...). Senior Leadership is also usually hit quickly and sometimes middle-management.

FWIW, I was in a similar situation. While we weren't acquired, my company outsourced its IT organization to another company and about 500 of us came into work one day and were rebadged as employees of the new company. Obviously many people lost their jobs over an extended period of time, but some of us actually ended up in better situations due to greater opportunity being available in the larger company. I was fortunate to be in the latter group.

 

[nardibynature123]

How big is your company, a lot of times these things take half a year, which is good because you have job security for half a year no matter what. After that however, you could be gone from the responses above.

 

[Alt Handle]

Why do people in the working world call a resume a CV?

The company I work for was acquired a few months ago and the deal is expected to close mid-next year. Early on in the process, many employees here were given retention incentive deals. So in other words, if no one tells you that you will be sticking around, it's probably safe to assume you won't be.

 

[HereComeTheCats]

Resume =/= CV

A resume is a short summary of your education and work experience. A CV goes into more detail on those areas plus mentions research/publications, notable speeches/lectures, awards. It's used more for academia or fields who think of themselves as such.

 

[selmore1]

Thanks for the tips.

They've told us that all of our jobs are secure but I know you can't really take a companies word on it. We are going to be merging with another group but we are bringing something to the table that they don't really do. We kind of operate in a niche space and I don't believe they really do much/if any work in it really so I don't believe we're a big redundancy.

PeterN I'll definitely take your suggestions going forward but really hope it doesnt come to that.

This post was edited on 12/17 5:14 PM by selmore1

 

[JMerc2]

Correct. A resume is a 1 page job designed to give the high points. A CV is a full dossier on your career accomplishments.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Alt Handle]

Originally posted by JMerc2:
Correct. A resume is a 1 page job designed to give the high points. A CV is a full dossier on your career accomplishments.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

Still sounds like something used by liberal artists to make them feel like they have done something of worth.

 

[djrun85]

selmore1, stating the obvious here but try to stay out of the negativity around the office typically associated with something like this. Should be easier for you if you just started but it's common for the old-timers to pine for the old days and set a negative tone around the office. People will also be stabbing others in the back to make themselves look good to the new guys, so watch out for that. Set yourself apart by staying positive (at least publicly) and be an enabler to getting things done. Good leadership will quickly identify who the distractors are and who the potential keepers are. Meanwhile, as others said, dust up your resume and save your pennies.

 

[selmore1]

DJ again, thanks for the advice. I'll definitely take it and will maintain a positive attitude. The atmosphere around the office is actually pretty positive. The founders of our companies business plan was to get bought out so everyone knew something like this was on the horizon but everyone thought it would be a cash injection from a PE. Our team is only about 8 people and all very young (company is only 7 years old) and I definitely have support from my boss being the low man on the totem pall and all. The move gives us the name and resources we were kind of lacking so I think it will be a positive move. I'm looking at it in the sense that this could provide alot more opportunities down the line and I like the field I'm in now.
This post was edited on 12/17 5:14 PM by selmore1

 

[RP_Gambit]

A lot of good advice above.

I worked for General Instrument who was acquired by Motorola who was acquired by Google who was acquired by Arris. Took 19 years but now I'm at Arris.

 

[JMerc2]

Bump. You get fired yet?

 

[BigEastBasketball]

Bump

 

[LizReed]

Bump

Really, Merc?

 

[BigEastBasketball]

Too soon?

 

[LizReed]

very likely

 

[StopBanningMeYouDick]

Don't bump dead threads. See what I did?