Takeover challenge: Keeping the talent
In response to the Feb. 6 column by Tom Taulli, "Barbarians at the gates of tech?":
You almost got it right. Sure, with the economy hurting, most employees would stay at a company that's a subject of a hostile takeover rather than leave. However, the best reason this type of acquisition almost never works for a tech company is this: The top, or "lead," programmers and developers usually end up leaving. It is those people who can either find a job at another company or set up a company on their own.
Therefore, a successful hostile takeover would depend on those lead programmers and developers staying. An example of this was IBM's hostile acquisition of Lotus in 1995. One of the crucial aspects to that acquisition was ensuring the allegiance of talent like Ray Ozzie, the creator of Lotus Notes.
Gerald F. Shields Jr. |
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