Have you experienced a company buyout before?

[Ronnin]

I have been employed at the same distributor for about 4 years now and just got word last week we have been bought out. Right after the first of the year our owner announced he was retiring and then almost immediately the due diligence began. We have now went from a small company comprised of 8 branches (mostly in Oklahoma) to being a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq. Everyone in corporate is sweating their jobs and I'm now sweating mine because our new owners already have a Houston store and the only information anyone is getting is by reading press releases off of our new owner's website (how we even found out it was a done deal). Damn, I hate buy outs. Sorry, just needed to vent and would love to hear some stories about anyone elses experiences to make me feel better.

I have scoping out underpasses under US-59 and so far have not found anything to my liking. If anyone needs a good accountant in the Houston area drop me a line. Looks like I'm in the market for new employment now.

 

[turbo]

I have been employed at the same distributor for about 4 years now and just got word last week we have been bought out. Right after the first of the year our owner announced he was retiring and then almost immediately the due diligence began. We have now went from a small company comprised of 8 branches (mostly in Oklahoma) to being a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq. Everyone in corporate is sweating their jobs and I'm now sweating mine because our new owners already have a Houston store and the only information anyone is getting is by reading press releases off of our new owner's website (how we even found out it was a done deal). Damn, I hate buy outs. Sorry, just needed to vent and would love to hear some stories about anyone elses experiences to make me feel better.

I have scoping out underpasses under US-59 and so far have not found anything to my liking. If anyone needs a good accountant in the Houston area drop me a line. Looks like I'm in the market for new employment now.

I was in sales and technical service for a manufacturer of industrial textiles (pulp and paper industry) and we got bought out by our largest competitor, that had almost exactly contiguous sales and service territories in the North-east. Every one of us lost our jobs, as they retained all their own sales and service people and rolled our products into their lines. I went from making over 85K (circa 1990) to unemployment and it took me almost 9 months to find some comparable, though lower-paying, job in that industry.

I didn't find out through word-of-mouth, rumor, etc. My sales manager lived in Maine and he invited me to join him for lunch at a really nice restaurant. He wanted to wait until after lunch, but he couldn't, in part because I had gotten large orders in an account that we had been locked out of nation-wide for over a decade. He handed me my last paycheck and severance check and gave me the news. I thanked him and drove home without lunch. Not fun.

Good luck with your company's buy-out. I wish you better luck than I had.

 

[sas3]

I have been working for 21 years in the IT industry (Computers big and small) and we have been outsourced, So, this summer my job is gone.
I will be moving to Upper Michigan and enjoying the Great North Woods, I have not decided on a new job field yet but after I leave I will get 26 weeks pay and insurance for a year.
After that well, what underpasses have you looked at so far, let me know if you find any good ones?

 

[turbo]

I have been working for 21 years in the IT industry (Computers big and small) and we have been outsourced, So, this summer my job is gone.
I will be moving to Upper Michigan and enjoying the Great North Woods, I have not decided on a new job field yet but after I leave I will get 26 weeks pay and insurance for a year.
After that well, what underpasses have you looked at so far, let me know if you find any good ones?

SAS, try to hook up with some small professional businesses. Until my sensitivities to perfumes got severe, I worked for about 5 years for a large (small in business terms) ophthalmic practice. An IT specialist in such an environment can leverage their skills into incremental improvements for the practice, and even little efficiencies can bring in a lot more money for the docs. Once you are valuable to them, you will never be out-sourced. Other likely businesses are law firms and large real-estate agencies.

 

[Astronuc]

I have scoping out underpasses under US-59 and so far have not found anything to my liking. If anyone needs a good accountant in the Houston area drop me a line. Looks like I'm in the market for new employment now.

I'm sorry to hear about the job insecurity. Hopefully it won't be as bad to necessitate checking out underpasses.

 

[Evo]

Ronnin and sas, I feel for both of you, I may wind up in the same scenario, but due to my company going down the drain.

 

[Ronnin]

What bothers me most is that there is no information flowing. If they would just fire me that would be bad but at least I would have some resolution. This not hearing anything is killing me. What am I supposed to tell my customers? Everything is great, I don't have a clue why it's great or how I'm suppose to deliver this greatness, but just know that it's great.
Check out this boilerplate marketing dribble.

"Most importantly [my firm] has a great reputation, strong customer relationships and a terrific group of dedicated employees that will integrate well with the [new firm] family"

Yeah, I'm sure i'll integrate just fine. Some how they left out the part they told the people in our former corporate office that they have an average employee retention rate of 85%. Guess the 15% just don't "integrate" as well. I know this "integration" they speak of is with respect to the Income Statement and Balance Sheet. What's sad is from a purely finance perspective this is a good move, but from an emotional/human one, it sux.

 

[Ronnin]

Well kids, it only took aproximately 5 hours from the start of my day Monday, the official transfer date, that I was handed my walking papers and told my position was no longer needed. I am now offically unemployed. It really does suck to be right about things sometimes. On a brighter note it looks like i'll have more time for my studies and home projects I've been putting off.

 

[lisab]

So sorry to hear it, Ronnin.

What are your plans? Will you try to get a job in the same industry, or something closely related? Or perhaps something altogether new? I believe there are retraining funds available if you need to train to get into a new field.

 

[turbo]

Well, at least you weren't blind-sided by this.

 

[Ronnin]

So sorry to hear it, Ronnin.

What are your plans? Will you try to get a job in the same industry, or something closely related? Or perhaps something altogether new? I believe there are retraining funds available if you need to train to get into a new field.

I am 5 weeks from finishing my BS in accounting and finance so now I think I'm just going to focus on that. I have enough cash and side projects going on to hold me over for a couple months. The plan is to leave the industry I was in (industrial distro) and count beans or do something in corporate finance. unfortunately, that opportunity probably won't present itself till the 4th quarter so I may be hanging out for a while. I guess I'll just hit the gym more, work on my bread recipe, and play with the kids till I find a new opportunity somewhere.

 

[turbo]

If you don't have it already, get James Beard's book, "Beard on Bread". Very good recipes, and bread-making is therapeutic, at least for me.

 

[Ronnin]

Thanks for the recommendations. I too find it to be a very relaxing and tasty way to deal with stress.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I lived in good times. I have quit jobs, been laid off, fired, and bought out of them. Every time I got a better job to replace the one I lost. I hope you can have the same luck.

 

[Ronnin]

I lived in good times. I have quit jobs, been laid off, fired, and bought out of them. Every time I got a better job to replace the one I lost. I hope you can have the same luck.

Thank you for the kind thoughts. I appreciate it.

 

[Evo]

As least you're prepared Ronnin. Good luck.

 

[lisab]

Thanks for the recommendations. I too find it to be a very relaxing and tasty way to deal with stress.

That's great! Here's a silver lining: this happened just in time to put in a nice little garden. Herbs for your bread, maybe?

Good to hear you're so close to having your degree - best of luck to you.

 

[Max Faust]

I find this hard to relate to. I am 47 and I have never ever had a *job* like that in my entire life - as in never ever a *boss* ever - and I will absolutely and without a second of hesitation slit my own throat with a dull teaspoon before that will ever happen. From my perspective, you should rejoice because there is one less corporate leech in this world. I'd recommend that young people learn a craft and live a real life instead of contributing to the sinister machine of lurid corporate finance that will ultimately kill us all. But that's just my opinion. I am far too old and far too hardened to care about what other people do anymore.

 

[turbo]

Thanks for the recommendations. I too find it to be a very relaxing and tasty way to deal with stress.

Pick recipes that require a lot of kneading and maybe a couple of punch-downs before the final rise before baking. They always seem to give a return on your effort. "Easy" breads are often ho-hum breads.

When I was abruptly fired due to an "inconvenient" health problem that I had diligently informed my employer of well before he hired me, it really ticked me off. Luckily, I had a nice garden spot, and I threw myself into gardening, canning, pickling, salsa-production, etc. Bread-making is a good release in cold weather, but gardening is my passion. We have two large chest freezers, and by the end of harvest season, there will hardly be room to squeeze in a couple of turkeys or some venison.

 

[rootX]

I haven't fully moved into the job market yet but seems like consultant work is better.

However, I hope you find a better job.

 

[Astronuc]

I haven't fully moved into the job market yet but seems like consultant work is better.

Not necessarily. It can be feast or famine. Unless one has a skill/experience that is much in demand, it's better to leave consulting until later in one's career.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune Ronnin. Hopefully better opportunities are just around the corner.

 

[turbo]

Not necessarily. It can be feast or famine. Unless one has a skill/experience that is much in demand, it's better to leave consulting until later in one's career.

Truth. If you have good creds in your field, you can do well. If you're not well-respected, you may have to work hard to get work. Once you get to the top levels of an industrial field, your employability is related more closely to your experience and reputation and less closely to your academic credentials.

 

[MotoH]

The military is always accepting new people.