When I was involved in M&A for a Fortune 20 company, the rate of failures for M&A we were told by various accounting firms and consultants was that 90% of all M&A never achieve the goals of doing it. So 10% success rate on a good day.
Ask HN: Examples of large acquisitions that did not ruin the acquired company?
171–173 of 173 posts
Re: Ask HN: Examples of large acquisitions that did not ruin the acquired company?
#172From the outside, IBM/RH merger looks like IBM tried to keep culture and organisation intact. Anyone from the inside who can comment?
From what I know of RH folks (across the spectrum) who stuck around through and after the acquisition ... so far IBM hasn't mucked it up too much The risk of someone walking out and starting Orange Sombrero Linux with 99% of RH's code (ie all the OSS stuff) seems to be keeping IBM in check (for now...)
Haha orange sombrero
Re: Ask HN: Examples of large acquisitions that did not ruin the acquired company?
#173(background: I work in tech mergers and acquisitions for a company that does pre-acquisition diligence.) It is worth noting that, most of the time, the things that are so wonderful about working at the small company are fun for all the same reasons that they aren't sustainable. Most startups are not cash positive - they don't make money, they just lose money more slowly than they get investment (by selling off bits o…
How do Google and Facebook etc manage it then?
Note that I said "most of the time". Google and Facebook are so far off the usual scenarios for startups and acquisitions that it's not even relevant. We do hundreds of acquisition diligences a year and the FAANG playbook is a whole different beast from the vast majority of acquisitions.