Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with acquisition

How to buy a domain from a squatter?

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:32:20 -0800

What's the best way to buy a .com domain from a squatter? Have you used a third-party to anonymously negotiate a domain purchase? I'd be very interested to hear your experiences. Googling about reveals a number of businesses that offer to handle anonymized negotiations of such matters... have any MeFites used these services and been pleased with the process? Or displeased? If so, would you recommend someone? What kind of rates, above the domain price itself, would we be looking at paying? This is in the U.S.

Note that the decision has already been made that if the domain can be had at a reasonable price, we should just buy the thing. I'd rather not encourage squatting as a business model... if it were me personally I'd try to take it to arbitration, but it's not my call.

How to list a company acquisition on a resume.

swift — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:17:01 -0800

How do I list a company acquisition on my resume? I worked for UnknownCoolStartup in 2006, which was then acquired by GiantCorporation in the same year, and I have been working there ever since, working on the same stuff as I did at UnknownCoolStartup, basically. My title has changed, of course.

How do I list this on my resume? Is it something like

UnknownCoolStartup (now GiantCorporation) 2006-2008

GiantCorporation (was UnknownCoolStartup) 2006-2008

GiantCorporation 2006-2008

or separate entries for both jobs (which takes valuable space)?

Acquire me! I'll take you to dinner first!

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:38:36 -0800

What happens when a little company is interested in getting purchased by a big one? (Take two.) (Sorry if you happened to spot the first question. I used bad html and broke it.)

In the exact reverse of this previous AskMe, I need some advice about acquisitions and venture capital. I am a senior executive at a small young company (less than 200 employees) that is a leader in the niche tech field of doodad design. I run the unit that handles all our North American doodad efforts.

For several solid business reasons, the founder/president has always been open to selling this unit, although not extremely motivated (there are other sexier units of the company that he likes to be more involved with). But there has been a change in the market: last fall, quietly, a big multi-national technology conglomerate with no previous doodad business picked up a similarly sized small doodad company (an indirect competitor of ours; their doodads don't serve the same customer base that ours do, but it wouldn't take long to add that functionality via development). Since then, several competitors of the conglomerate have been discreetly sniffing around us.

I have convinced the president that right now is a good time to accelerate the acquisition effort. He has given me the green light to go forth and seek a potential buyer. After much research, I have created a short list of companies that I think will have interest. I believe that our NA doodad unit offers everything that improves shareholder value as a bolt-on acquisition (including exceptional market share and brand awareness, synergy, cutting-edge technology, human resources that are tops in the field, and high return on the economies of scale) and very little that decreases shareholder value (we have no debt, it would be a relatively cheap acquisition, and so on).

So... what next? How would a huge global entity expect to be approached in this case? And to whom? I literally have the clearance to call up [some top person at a conglomerate on my list] and say, "So, do you have a few million lying around?" (I kid; I know that wouldn't be the tactic.) But what is the best tactic? What's the best way to get my foot in that door? What should I expect in a get-to-know-you process? What will they expect to see in the pitch? I understand pitching the broader strokes: valuation, projected revenue, being able to demonstrate our market activity, and so on... but is it presumptuous to plan for how I foresee the unit functioning as part of a new entity? Or does a global conglomerate not really care about the suggestions of Tim Smith, Doodad VP? I'm not worried about the legal and financial due diligence part, since once a solid lead came into the picture, my president would bring an outside team in to handle that part of the process.

Also, I have seen that in several similar deals in my industry over the last few years, the two parties came together via a consulting firm, some group that advises specifically on this kind of dea. Do we really have to consider using an intermediary? (I've been offered a finder's fee by the founder if I can bring in a legitimate buyer candidate and the deal goes through, but I wouldn't want to have to share it with a broker.)

FWIW, I believe that we are in the best position to get acquired, as opposed to obtaining (what would be) stage 3 or mezzanine funding. But, I also know very little about the VC world and what the trends in the market are right now, so I could be wrong: is mezzanine funding the way to go here? The founders are going to want to divest of the unit completely, not just get a cash injection in order to then have to futz with it even more; this would necessitate restructuring the management of the unit (which wouldn't really be a bad thing). Am I right in my understanding that a VC firm won't want to bother with an outfit that isn't already fully contained, that needs to fill some management holes?

Also, I am very nervous about the possibility that I am opening the door to being out of a job. There's really no way to absolutely guarantee that I stay employed if we get purchased, is there?

I'm sure there are additional questions that I should be asking that I don't know to ask. Any thoughts, resources, experiences are welcome. Btw, I'm also looking for a mentor to help me navigate this (frankly overwhelming but exciting) opportunity so if you can suggest anyone, I'm all ears. Email me at acquisitionaskme@gmail.com if you need more info.

What are my options?

tdischino — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:46:38 -0800

What usually happens to vested stock options when a private company buys a public company (or a part of the company)? Publicly held parent company is looking to sell my division to a private company. I have vested stock options, some underwater, some not. Can I count on being compensated from either company for the vested options? Would I only be compensated for options that are currently above the strike? What's the likelihood that I could end up with no compensation?

Acquire me? Shouldn't you take me to dinner first?

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 11:01:18 -0800

What happens when a big company is interested in acquiring a little online venture? I currently have a small online media project that flies under the radar most of the time. It's been building an audience steadily and has gotten some niche press attention. A high profile firm has contacted us to talk about acquisition possibilities and I have no experience in this area. I run this web thing out of my bedroom. I imagine I should lawyer up although I have no idea where to find a lawyer.

What can I expect from beginning the process? What will they ask me? What will they want to see? Anything I should watch out for?

It's a Web 2.0 thing that a few companies have expressed interest in. Other people have told me that I might be targeted for acquisition but I was a bit skeptical. I should have parked my skepticism earlier and have done more research, I guess. I'm still not expecting much. I just want to enter into this with my eyes wide open.

I can take more questions at helpaskme@gmail.com if I haven't provided enough info. Thanks MeFites.

Pets, and Kozmo, and eToys oh my!

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 18:10:02 -0800

I work for a small dot com that just was acquired by a larger dot com (one with a historically shady reputation). What are some signs that my job may not be safe, even though I've been promised it is? What are signs that we are just going to be chewed up and discarded? How will I know when it's time to rewrite the resume and get out?

What are the most effective methods for acquiring music under Windows?

jdroth — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 09:43:49 -0800

My sister-in-law has purchased a Creative Labs Zen Touch 40gb music player. She'd like advice on how to fill it with music. I'm a Mac user who uses iTunes and an iPod, so I don't really have a good answer for her. Can you help? Her new music player can take mp3s and WMA files, but, unless I'm mistaken, cannot take Apple's AAC-encoded files or Audible's proprietary format. My sister-in-law is perfectly willing to pay for music, though she's wary of Napster's "you can have as music as you want as long as you pay a monthly fee" model.

Where can she buy music online? What file-sharing programs are currently available that do not infest a PC with spyware/adware? Are there utilities that will strip the DRM from an Apple AAC file, leaving a simple mp3? What's the best music-management software for a PC? (By this I mean: what should she use to rip her CD collection to her hard drive, and then add acquired mp3s? Is iTunes the best choice?)

I really feel out of my league on this one, and any help would be appreciated.

How can I keep track of mergers & acquisitions in Europe, Asia and Latin America?

evening — Tue, 06 Jul 2004 11:44:04 -0800

Mergers & Acquisitions. For my job at work we need to start keeping track of completed M&As. Globally. Yahoo has a nice M&A calendar site that lists the acquiring company, target company, and when its done. Problem is it focuses on North America. Are there similar sites that can give this information for Europe, Asia & Latin America? I've got some make shift solutions, but nothing real good. And the really good resources are tons of money, which my department doesn't have the budget for (and these sites tend to be overkill - I don't need to track a merger, just need to know when its complete).