Have you or a family member ever lost a job due to a corporate buy-out?

[hedgehog]

[Brickbat]

1. Yup, eventually.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Yes

[NMDemDist2]

3. yes n/t

[MrCoffee]

4. Yes

[my2sense]

5. Yes

[sledwreck13]

6. No n/t

[Populist_Prole]

7. Yes

In the 80's, but I've known plenty of others who have from then through today.

[Avalux]

8. Yes, me.

After we were told nothing would change, which is par for the course. Private equity/investment firms are liars.

[onehandle]

9. I worked for a corporation that specialized in it. Laying people off was key to cutting costs...

...not only in the short term, but in the long term.

By interrupting a worker's career, you reduce their wages industry wide.

Don't think that it's just about firing you now. They want you cheaper down the road.

All part of the strategy.


Oh, and yes. I have been 'downsized' in another job.

[OnyxCollie]

10. Yep.

Last edited Tue Jan 10, 2012, 07:46 PM - Edit history (2)

From Clear Channel Communications, before the Bain Capital acquisition.

Edit to add: This happened in 1999, as a result of Clinton's signing the Telecommunications Deregulation Act into effect, which allowed CC to go hog wild and buy a shitload of radio stations.

[madokie]

11. sure have

[sakabatou]

12. Yep

My dad worked at Raychem and that was bought-out, he was let go.

[sharp_stick]

13. Oh Yeah

and it happened about 4 weeks after the CEO publicly announced to the company and the media in Delaware that he and the company were committed to the State.

[YvonneCa]

14. Yes, I did once...

...long ago. Two other family members did...one about 2007 and the other last year. It's difficult EVERY time.

[MADem]

15. Yes--I have a relative who got shafted by a European corporation taking over an American concern. nt

[Solly Mack]

16. Yes

[bigwillq]

17. Yes (nt)

[pkz]

18. yes nt

[supernova]

19. Not bought out but downsized. Repeatedly.

I was laid off three different times in the 2000s from a Fortune 50 firm because I was a contractor.

And nope, there is nothing short of the Earth being swallowed into a black hole that will make me go back to that.

I have nothing but the utmost contempt for Corporate America (TM).

[Wellstone ruled]

20. Not once,but twice.

First experience was company demise due to 3 leverage buyouts,only 8 persons received full pensions,3 of us received 33%of our pension rights. But,all of the others(153),zero,nadda,nothing. This all happened under Raygun and his attack on unions. Second time,venture capital suckers took us down. Maxed out the company with a ESOP,theres a real winner for employees,then could not make interest payments to us. Bankruptcy,everybody lost their ass,some as much as 100k,me only 25k,kicker,not tax deductible at that time.

All in all,seen close to 300 families beat to hell and back,corporate raiders and bankruptcy lawyers have a special place in Hell.

[Speck Tater]

21. Yup. My thriving employer was bought out by a multi-national

They looted the assets of the company and shut it down, laying off 300 in the engineering staff alone. I don't know how many company-wide got laid off. It had been a growing, successful company with a bright future. They destroyed it for the sake a few extra dollars they could pay to stock holders in the next quarter.

[karynnj]

22. Sort of - Bain Capital merged two companies, including one my husband

worked at. They wanted him to stay in the combined company, but we would have had to move to Ohio. As I was working then and loved my job, my husband found another job, which he liked better anyway, in NJ. We weren't hurt by it, but many were.

The responses in this thread indicate that there are a fair number of people who have ample reason to not like Romney.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

23. Yes, and a close friend to a family lost his job when Carly Fiorina fired folks!

[Lint Head]

24. I resigned because of a corporate buy out. Wasn't fired. But,

I resigned because the new company was eliminating the benefits it took some people 40 years to build up.

[HeiressofBickworth]

34. Me too

When it was announced that the company was being bought by a much larger concern and knowing from previous experience in the legal business what was coming, I took the opportunity to retire. They offered me money to stay to work on the transaction (I was a paralegal) but I didn't want anything to do with it. I've heard through the grapevine that there have been several rounds of lay-offs and downsizing office spaces. Won't be long until the company will vanish. Just as they planned. What pisses me off the most is the lies -- the president of the company telling us that there wouldn't be any lay-offs. Well, the last laugh was when HE was fired!!!

[Lint Head]

37. The same thing happened with my situation.

The big wigs are now gone also.

[Simo 1939_1940]

25. Yup. My sister. NT

[silverweb]

26. Yup.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Multiple family members as well as friends. I've been lucky so far, but don't dare take anything for granted.

[InkAddict]

27. Yes - bought-out,downsized,right-sized,re-orged,merged,moved,off-shored,outsourced;

you name it - we been had!

[hootinholler]

28. Does refusing to move after a buy out count?

I was offered a move or severance. I took the severance.

[HubertHeaver]

29. Yes. There is even a book and a movie about it.

[hedgehog]

31. Now you have to give us some titles!

[HubertHeaver]

44. Barbarians at the Gates or something close. It was about the RJ Reynolds leveraged buyout in the

early 90's.

I worked for a subsidiary of RJ, Del Monte. In the course of the buyout the winning group incurred horrendous debt and needed to dump some holdings. A group of Del Monte execs then did a leveraged (in turn incurring tremendous debt) buyout of Del Monte from RJ. However, RJ had already looted Del Monte (formerly an asset-rich but cash-strapped company) of its land and farm equipment assets. Since all that was left was plant and warehouse assets the execs had to choose which plants and warehouses to dump in order to pay down some of the tremendous debt. The plant I worked for got the ax.

[hedgehog]

45. Thank you for explaining what high finance

can mean on the ground!

[SharonAnn]

30. Yes.

[hedgehog]

32. My dad worked for a family owned company that made conveyor belts and hose

for industry. We're talking the kind of belts used in a coal mine, really specialized, heavy duty stuff.

The company got bought up by Litton Industries, one of the conglomerates. Within a few years, Litton looted the company and folded it. The last I knew, the site was a storage depot for the electric company.

The nice touch was that there had been some sort of vested pension or stock option. When Litton bought the company, the shares were switched with Litton's. My Dad thought he had a year's salary saved up, a nice cushion when he was laid off. Instead, he ended up with nothing.

[MadrasT]

33. Twice. n/t

[RainDog]

35. yes. my dad n/t

[jwirr]

36. Yes, she was a computer networker and they let her network the new owners in and then fired her.

She was expecting it though. In her case it was a good move as she was beginning to show the stress that goes with that job.

[barbtries]

38. i think my brother did

a lot of years ago. me, no.
i should say, not yet.

[progressoid]

39. Yep

twice.

[TBF]

40. Yes - indirectly

I was doing legal support at a company a little over 5 years ago. The work wasn't that exciting (mostly database), but it dried up completely and big cases went away when the client was bought out by someone else. I was laid off.

It wasn't the worse thing - my husband was working and I found another job within a couple months that I liked better (albeit at a little less pay). But the answer to your question is yes, I've been through that. And Romney can shove it.

[tammywammy]

41. No n/t

[davepdx]

42. Yes, my father. n/t

[lapislzi]

43. Indirectly, yes

My husband worked for the Art Institute of Pittsburgh which was bought out by EDMC and subsequently (LBO) by Goldman Sachs. 4,000 people got the axe on October 27. My husband was one.