Signs company is selling?

[Anonymous]

Private company. Doing well financially (at least what we can see). Ahead of revenue projections. Was once a “just go do it” kind of mentality, it’s all of a sudden a land of “no”. People can’t do their jobs because of the red tape and sudden budget cuts. New layer of financial oversight. Hiring freeze in place. Lots of secret c-suite meetings, that only involve select c-suite members. And CEO is MIA to 99% of business both internal and external.

My guess is company is going to sell. Any other predictions?

[Anonymous]

Sounds about right. Polish up the resume, it sucks to be sold

[Anonymous]

Possibly--even if there isn't a competitor that might buy, is it a company that's in a business that's hot for private equity purchases right now?

[Anonymous]

Possible. Also possible they know some bad financial news is coming, like losing a major customer. Companies that are about to sell usually try to do things to goose the numbers in the year or so before the sale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Possible. Also possible they know some bad financial news is coming, like losing a major customer. Companies that are about to sell usually try to do things to goose the numbers in the year or so before the sale.

Right, and there may be a large layoff to accompany the bad news. Also, CEO may get replaced as a result of the bad news.

[Anonymous]

Wait until they tell you to burn all your PTO.

[Anonymous]

Yup. I've been sold five times over my career and these are all the signs. They want to look as if they run exceptionally lean. Then the new owners will be surprised when you try to explain that you're half-staffed and woefully underfunded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Possible. Also possible they know some bad financial news is coming, like losing a major customer. Companies that are about to sell usually try to do things to goose the numbers in the year or so before the sale.

Right, and there may be a large layoff to accompany the bad news. Also, CEO may get replaced as a result of the bad news.

My experience is that any layoffs happen after the sale. Before the sale, they are doing things like trying to bring orders and revenue in the current accounting period, trying to defer expenses until next year, etc. to get numbers up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Possible. Also possible they know some bad financial news is coming, like losing a major customer. Companies that are about to sell usually try to do things to goose the numbers in the year or so before the sale.

Right, and there may be a large layoff to accompany the bad news. Also, CEO may get replaced as a result of the bad news.

My experience is that any layoffs happen after the sale. Before the sale, they are doing things like trying to bring orders and revenue in the current accounting period, trying to defer expenses until next year, etc. to get numbers up.

Op here - this is exactly what we are experiencing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Possible. Also possible they know some bad financial news is coming, like losing a major customer. Companies that are about to sell usually try to do things to goose the numbers in the year or so before the sale.

Right, and there may be a large layoff to accompany the bad news. Also, CEO may get replaced as a result of the bad news.

My experience is that any layoffs happen after the sale. Before the sale, they are doing things like trying to bring orders and revenue in the current accounting period, trying to defer expenses until next year, etc. to get numbers up.

Yep, they want to get the numbers looking as good as possible leading up to the sale. After the sale, once the new owners come in and take a closer look, that's when they will put in new leadership and start cleaning house.

At least that's been my experience with Private Equity purchases.

[Anonymous]

OP, senior people aren't political idiots. Everybody at the top of the company knows they are looking to sell. For my company, once the main owner stepped back from an active role, people started talking. I cut back my hours and am using that time to actively look.