And That's the Way It Is...

[billroper]

We appear to have been acquired.

More later...

Comments

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

Gosh,

any thoughts on how this is likely to affect you in the long term?

[billroper]

Long term, it's hard to say. In the short to medium term, it doesn't look like there will be a tremendous amount of difference, at first blush.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

One hopes you have stock in the company.

[billroper]

Yes, although since this is a cash transaction, the answer will soon be "had stock in the company". :)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Well, that's a big, steaming cup of Holy Crap. What both o' them said.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

So that's your day job... Yer bosses decided to cash out, eh? Best wishes for your retention and prosperity in the fallout from this deal.

[daddy-guido.livejournal.com]

go back and look at the day in January when their stock traded 6 million shares, versus the normal 500k to 1M range.

THAT's when somebody cashed out - or IN.

[billroper]

Positive earnings report that day. :)

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I must be confused about your work; I thought you'd worked for the same little company since college, developing some abstruse niche-market software. Did that little company get bought out earlier (and this information then leak out of my senile brain)?

Anyway, hopefully (a) you're senior enough to get the kind of payout that would allow you to comfortably retire early, or failing that, (b) the new arrangement will include management that actually has brains, or at the very least, (c) if they're all pointy-haired, they get it in their pointy haired heads that you are someone they need and they give you a big raise.

[billroper]

The little company got bought about this time in 2004. But I'm still sitting at the same desk working on the same product.

This won't let me retire early, but it will be a decent amount of cash in pocket.

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

Scary stuff, kids. Do you have any hope for long-term employment?

And how do the anti-trust guys feel about this?

[billroper]

It looks like there won't be any employment problem, which I think is good. I'm guessing the anti-trust guys won't care, as this is adding (more) applications to a database vendor.

[sraun]

Good luck!

[poltr1]

Zoinks!

Let's hope the only thing that changes is the payer's name on the paycheck.

And I'm sending you good vibes for tomorrow.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Good luck.

B

[daddy-guido.livejournal.com]

unless some idiot goes on a reorg rampage without any strategic thought at ALL, I suspect you'll be perfectly secure.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Mmm...that's never comfortable. How do you think this will affect your position there?

[catalana.livejournal.com]

I've heard pretty decent things from people who have worked at Oracle, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

[jebra.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Here's to hoping it's an ouch-less merger.

[tollermom]

May your merger be as comfortable in the long-term as ours was. We could have wound up w/ a number of corporate overlords, but I've been very happy w/ the way we've been treated. Hopefully Oracle will treat you as well as Wiley has treated me.

[mgucciard.livejournal.com]

On the plus side, you're likely to get a REAL database :-)
Best of luck.
Been through two of these, one from each side.
Keep a level head, and things will usually work out.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

Hopefully there won't be any layoffs.

Other than that, as someone who's worked for Oracle, the only major difference you'll notice is more bureaucracy at the corporate level.

Oracle has a very good ESPP. Many co-workers of mine and I took advantage of it to pick up a few extra bucks (you pay 85% of what the stock is worth, then turn around and sell it).