Our Company Sold

A big surprise early Monday morning: that our company had been sold to Avago Corporation, which is expanding into the storage and networking space. An even bigger surprise is that many of us on the the inside had no idea whatsoever that such a big transaction was in the works. Many of my co-workers seem upbeat about the news nonetheless, especially that our stock price has finally broken the $10 barrier. Our company stock, earned over the years through the ESPP or as RSU grants, is suddenly worth a whole lot more. I'll give myself a couple of weeks before I sell some of it.

The question on everyone's mind has been whether people would lose their jobs. Traditionally, the absorbed company sheds some positions as they get assimilated into the owning company. We did that when we acquired Agere Systems and MegaRAID. But in this week's employee conferences (3 by week's end) with both CEOs, the message has been that this is more like a merger, a combining of specialties to create a larger company, and so business should proceed as usual albeit under a new name on our side. If any jobs will be shed, it will be in departments that do similar work in both companies, and such decisions will be made in the 3rd or 4th quarters of 2014 after the acquisition gets approved in in March or April.

What does this acquisition mean for our family though? For the time being, we will proceed with our lives as originally planned. If I were to lose my job, three things would be at stake: our plans to buy a house next year, our healthcare insurance, and a sabbatical I have been delaying. The slight uncertainty has caused us to look more critically at our finances, and to begin considering alternatives (part-time work or contracts through my business STRIVE). It's definitely a sterner dynamic.

So we covet your prayers that we may find peace and not be thrown off course by uncertainties that would befall us. In times like this, we are glad that we still have two incomes, and that our emergency plans account for one of us losing their job. It's comforting and helps us avoid panic.