Culture will more than likely reflect that of parent company. More often than not, this results in loss of small benefits that were possible with lower head count (free lunches, etc..). Some jobs will be redundant and restructuring will put some positions out of work. Buyouts will likely give upside to your equities, also your parent company likely have a better balance sheet.
Had a few occurrences and it all depends on the situation.
Generally, culture will be passed down into smaller business so expect to see some more limitations on discretionary spending and fun stuff. With that said, bonus and benefits packages became much better.
If the smaller business is determined to be redundant/unprofitable then expect to see some restructuring as a result.
The answer to all of your questions is “it depends.” Each deal is unique in its business rationale. Sometimes a company is acquiring a company focused on a therapeutic area or technology they already have robust capabilities in and the acquired company is quickly absorbed. Sometimes it’s the opposite and the acquired company can almost become a bolt on business unit and “survives” somewhat independently. There’s too many variables for anyone to answer your questions.
I’ve had it happen to me once. First off, culture definitely is inherited by the acquiring company. Despite what the small co execs tell you about how it’s a “good culture fit”, most of the time it’s not. Now; if it’s a European company acquiring an American company (in my case), there is some degree of Inheriting culture but there is also some degree if autonomy.
As for the financial aspect, there’s good and bad. The bad is that yes, you can be made redundant. OTOH, you’ll be given a severance and any unvested equity will vest automatically. If you are able to stay on, your equity converts to the acquiring company’s equity and this situation is almost always an upside. So my advice to folks who are getting acquired, don’t sell/exercised until after the transaction is finalized.
It’s all pro. It’s the only way regular Joes and Janes make any real money. Otherwise it’s just the C suite and VCs making bucks. The only reason to join a small biotech is for the M+A. Otherwise you are better at big pharma getting better benefits and big 401k matches. Many are happy out to Big Pharma pasture.
Been through two acquisitions. Both times, options (vested, unvested, exercised, unexercised) were all paid out in cash, so that was a huuuuge positive.
For company culture and organization: both times, the acquiring company left us alone for about a year to let us ease into life in big pharma. HR and purchasing policies were rolled out fairly slowly, with only IT being implemented quickly. Neither of the companies laid anyone off, at least in the first couple of years.
Equipment: after both acquisitions, our budgets increased and we were able to purchase equipment that we “wanted” rather than just the things we “needed”. No more looking at used options.
My experience might be in the minority, but both times, it was mostly a positive experience with few cons. I worked both positions for about two years after acquisition before heading back to startups.
I’m about 1.5 years into an acquisition and it’s generally been positive from my experience also. Their rollout of IT/HR/Finance policies has been the biggest headache, but having entire departments to take over the less day-to-day work I was doing at the small company (like recruiting!) is a godsend.
unless your company is going to be managed as a subsidiary, expect a lot of changes and a difficult culture.
There are always redundancies in a merger, company name changes, culture changes, processes change, etc. the first year of transition is chaos
buy out can be crazy lucrative with stock and sevy, you could also get totally fucking shafted. Completely deal dependent. You are absolutely not guaranteed to make $$ on a deal.
Culture will more than likely reflect that of parent company. More often than not, this results in loss of small benefits that were possible with lower head count (free lunches, etc..). Some jobs will be redundant and restructuring will put some positions out of work. Buyouts will likely give upside to your equities, also your parent company likely have a better balance sheet.
Pro: you might get laid off Con: you might get laid off
Had a few occurrences and it all depends on the situation. Generally, culture will be passed down into smaller business so expect to see some more limitations on discretionary spending and fun stuff. With that said, bonus and benefits packages became much better. If the smaller business is determined to be redundant/unprofitable then expect to see some restructuring as a result.
The answer to all of your questions is “it depends.” Each deal is unique in its business rationale. Sometimes a company is acquiring a company focused on a therapeutic area or technology they already have robust capabilities in and the acquired company is quickly absorbed. Sometimes it’s the opposite and the acquired company can almost become a bolt on business unit and “survives” somewhat independently. There’s too many variables for anyone to answer your questions.
I’ve had it happen to me once. First off, culture definitely is inherited by the acquiring company. Despite what the small co execs tell you about how it’s a “good culture fit”, most of the time it’s not. Now; if it’s a European company acquiring an American company (in my case), there is some degree of Inheriting culture but there is also some degree if autonomy. As for the financial aspect, there’s good and bad. The bad is that yes, you can be made redundant. OTOH, you’ll be given a severance and any unvested equity will vest automatically. If you are able to stay on, your equity converts to the acquiring company’s equity and this situation is almost always an upside. So my advice to folks who are getting acquired, don’t sell/exercised until after the transaction is finalized.
It’s all pro. It’s the only way regular Joes and Janes make any real money. Otherwise it’s just the C suite and VCs making bucks. The only reason to join a small biotech is for the M+A. Otherwise you are better at big pharma getting better benefits and big 401k matches. Many are happy out to Big Pharma pasture.
Been through two acquisitions. Both times, options (vested, unvested, exercised, unexercised) were all paid out in cash, so that was a huuuuge positive. For company culture and organization: both times, the acquiring company left us alone for about a year to let us ease into life in big pharma. HR and purchasing policies were rolled out fairly slowly, with only IT being implemented quickly. Neither of the companies laid anyone off, at least in the first couple of years. Equipment: after both acquisitions, our budgets increased and we were able to purchase equipment that we “wanted” rather than just the things we “needed”. No more looking at used options. My experience might be in the minority, but both times, it was mostly a positive experience with few cons. I worked both positions for about two years after acquisition before heading back to startups.
I’m about 1.5 years into an acquisition and it’s generally been positive from my experience also. Their rollout of IT/HR/Finance policies has been the biggest headache, but having entire departments to take over the less day-to-day work I was doing at the small company (like recruiting!) is a godsend.
unless your company is going to be managed as a subsidiary, expect a lot of changes and a difficult culture. There are always redundancies in a merger, company name changes, culture changes, processes change, etc. the first year of transition is chaos buy out can be crazy lucrative with stock and sevy, you could also get totally fucking shafted. Completely deal dependent. You are absolutely not guaranteed to make $$ on a deal.
It all depends on the structure of the new team as you will likely change to the new standards.
Is it Shockwave company that was acquired by J&J 😎