sometimes when a big company buys a small company it is said they did it not so much for the company itself but for the employees. i’ve heard this quite a bit over the years but never understood it. what stops the employees from simply going elsewhere? what guarantees are made to ensure the employees don’t all go to work with a competitor as soon as the deal is finalized?
In: 14
Nothing stops most employees from leaving.
Executives or key employees at the acquired company may sign employment contracts as part of the acquisition, but that’s unlikely for low level employees.
What’s likely to stop anyone from *wanting* to leave is gobs of cash. It’s not uncommon for the hired employees to get large stock grants from the larger company, but with a 1 year cliff and 4 year vest.
So Google acquires my company and gives me, a lowly software engineer, $1 million in Google stock, but I get nothing if I quit (or am fired) before the year is over and I don’t get the full $1mm unless I stick around for the full four years
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