Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with merger

How to account for stock merger in MS Money?

Sweetie Darling — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:04:55 -0800

Looking for a Microsoft Money/ Quicken expert - or any smart accounting/finance person, really - to help me figure out how to document the recent Pfizer-Wyeth merger in MS Money. Pfizer merged with (acquired) Wyeth on Oct. 15. Eligible shareholders received $33 cash and .985 shares of Pfizer for every share of Wyeth we held, plus a cash payout for any fractional shares.

In MS Money, do I

- Sell Wyeth and Buy Pfizer? If so, at what prices - the closing prices on 10/15 ($17.66 PFI, $50.39 WYE)?

or, do I

- Remove Shares of Wyeth and Add Shares of Pfizer? If so, how do I account for the $33/share of cash?

Also, how do I document the fractional share payout?

I found these FAQs on the Pfizer webpage http://media.pfizer.com/files/investors/shareholder/Pfizer_Wyeth_FAQ.pdf and this question-and-answer on a different forum http://www.rockryno.com/quicken/How-do-I-handle-the-recent-merger-of-Pfizer-and-Wyeth-19406-.htm, but I'm still not sure I understand the mechanics of recording this in Money.

Thanks in advance for your help. This is making my head hurt.

It came from the public sector

XMLicious — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:55:24 -0800

Why would two non-profit organizations merge? I was doing a bit of research on a particular non-profit organization that is a national concern in the United States. In the course of this I discovered that the NPO was originally formed decades ago and that for the first twenty years or so of its existence it provided its community services only to a single region within a single state. But then about ten years ago it started expanding its operations: first it became state-wide, then it became nation-wide and changed its name to a generic non-regional one.

Then it started gobbling up other NPOs in its sector! It has merged with something like twenty or thirty other NPOs all across the country, to the point that it's now the top or 2nd largest provider of its type of service in the nation.

This seems strangely aggressive and commercial to me, almost... metastatic, as though something has gone wrong in this organization or its entire non-profit sector. In the absence of the profit motive is there anything that could explain this sort of behavior, or might this be indicative that something nefarious is going on?

Checking into its Form 990's, it of course has shown a drastic increase in its revenue as it has grown. Its executives make between $200k and $500k, which from the reading I've done does not appear to be exceptional for a large NPO. The one thing which is a bit odd is that there's also a PR consulting firm that's always one of the top two or three contractors every year, which appears to be owned by a guy who was the press contact back in the 1900s when it was still a small local outfit. The compensation to the PR firm is usually in the $400k vicinity, if I recall correctly, but one year it spiked up to almost $800k.

The name of the NPO is Money Management International.

How to get salary equalized using "inside information"

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 09:55:42 -0800

Recently got confirmed that I am being severely underpaid and want to find out how to go about getting my salary "equalized" ... the catch is that the information was accidentally made available to me and I don't know if/how I can use it to my advantage. The backstory: work in retail banking as a Branch Manager (BM) with 10+ years of experience in a "community" commercial bank. Said bank was swallowed by much larger commercial bank. BMs in our bank were told we weren't as qualified as big bank BMs and we would need to "prove" ourselves to big bank to get into salary range. A year goes by, I'm a top performer in sales and service, constantly told I'm "the best" in my region.

Meanwhile, natural attrition occurs and new BMs are hired on. Suspect they're being hired at the larger salary range because they come from other big banks. I go with the flow and wait until annual review time to gather my statistics and show I've been proving myself and then ask for the raise.

Second meanwhile, big bank is swallowed by another, bigger bank a few short months before annual review process! Same story - we might not be "qualified" and need to prove ourselves, etc, but we don't yet know because we're still mid-merger and technically working as two separate companies.

The kicker - my boss recently (accidentally) gave me access to the HR information about my entire district, which I found as I was trying to look at my own employee's information. CONFIRMED! I'm being massively underpaid compared to the folks who have been hired in after our first merger. Ranges are from $15K to $25K per year more. We're doing the same job. I have more experience. I'm a top performer and they aren't. Lucky them, they were hired in direct with big bank and I was part of the previous merger.

So, my questions are:

#1 - Do I tell manager that they gave me access they shouldn't have? (Mgr is an idiot when it comes to all things technical and probably would never even find out).

#2 - Now that I'm seething with the information, is there any way I can use it to my advantage? I should never have seen this and had to click into a second area to really see the info, it wasn't just on the splash page, so ethically, I shouldn't have "clicked".

#3 - Assuming I didn't have confirmation of the salary range issues, how would I best go about requesting an equalizing pay before or during the merger?

#4 - Is there any sort of discrimination/complaint/law suit possible here on a "equal pay for equal work" concept? The people being underpaid and overpaid are mixes of races, genders, etc, so it's not an old boys club concept.

#5 - How do I continue working here, knowing I'm so underpaid when I'm constantly told I'm the best? I feel completely insulted. I get the business sense of them getting a "bargain" but I'm pissed, too.

Sorry for the length, anon to protect myself, but I wanted to provide as much detail as possible.

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)?

The Ripper's blues

Iosephus — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:11:59 -0800

One-CD-to-one-audiofile software ripper? Failing that, audiofiles merger software? Quick version: what it says up there.

Anecdotal version (well, if I got you to kindly read this at least I could provide you some entertainment!). Being the happy owner of an iRiver T10 2GB, after some fiddling around I realized that ripping my not numerous CD collection to OGG VBR 64 kbs was just fine for me (I'll now dodge decaying produce from the hardcore audiofiles, do excuse me for a moment). Trouble is, this would easily put around 1200 tracks on the T10, which (and this is the first and only bad thing I've found so far about the lovely T10) can only endure 1000. So either I rip (some/all) CDs as whole tracks, or find some decent merger. I've tried some of the mergers around and they produce files that don't get read past the equivalent of the first unmerged track (not sure where the fault is, merger or T10's decoder).

I'm afraid there weren't any monkeys wearing a fez in the anecdote, which makes me sad.

What happens when two satellites 'do it'?

mjthomas — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 13:56:32 -0800

XM and Sirius announced their plans to merge. What happens now? I am a recent XM subscriber with a bunch of questions. Some may be impossible to answer at this point, but any speculation from an enlightened few would help me understand what the heck this means.

--How likely is this to be considered a monopoly and be rejected by the government?

--What will they call the new company?

--Will they keep all of their stations, or eliminate the overlapping ones?

--Will my satellite radio unit work with both satellites?

--Can Opie and Anthony and Howard Stern coexist?

Trying not to screw myself.

rhizome — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 14:13:35 -0800

How do I figure out if I should go along with my company's acquisition? I was about to find another job when the tiny (<10ppl) company I work for was acquired by a much much larger one. The new company is well-known, creative (video games), great benefits, etc. The downside for them is that instead of riding my bike to work I'm going to have to commute about 40min each way.

The stickler is that I started working here 9months ago at a lower salary than I'd preferred with a promise of a review at 6mos. As the old story goes, I was too busy at 6mos to request the review and my boss did not take it upon himself either. I did remind him about a month ago, to which he said we could do it the first week of February. In the meantime, the deal goes through and I get an offer letter from the new company at my current number. This has me seething because he put me off of the review right as the deal was happening, so I'm quite miffed at how he weaseled out of his promise. We have met over this issue because I have so far refused to sign the employment agreement, but he says there's nothing he can do or that we can see what happens once we're at the new company (and HR is out of his control, natch).

It's probably old news that people get exploited in business, but I've been busting my ass here so much that I haven't had time to meet with the recruiter who has been chasing me for months!

Pray for public transportation.

youthenrage — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:29:01 -0800

How can I prove to the DMV that the lien on the car I just bought has been paid off? The secured party listed on the title (a bank) was bought by FCNB bank and then by BB&T bank. I bought a truck from a friends dad about a week ago. The truck was registered in Maryland, but I live in Virginia. I just got the title, which needed to be replaced as they had lost the original one. The bank listed as the lien holder on the title no longer exists, and neither does the bank that bought the original bank. All are under the control of BB&T now. I need to prove to the Virginia DMV that the lien is off the truck, but have no clue who contact about clearing this up. The Maryland DMV? BB&T bank? If it's BB&T, who should I call? Their general 800 #? A branch local to the Maryland town where the truck came from? Will they issue me the notice that the lien is no longer valid even though I'm not the person on the title or in their paperwork?

help please.

Questions to ask potentional employer who is an attractive merger target?

Harvey Birdman — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 00:45:43 -0800

I am considering accepting a job offer from a law firm that considered merging with a larger law firm within the past few years. The law firm I am considering going to has a reputation for being a good place to work because of an emphasis on collegiality, balance, etc. Most other firms in the area, including those most likely to be discussed in a merger, don't. What questions should I be asking to ensure (to the extent that I can) that if I accept this job, I won't find myself at a very different type of firm in a few years, due to a merger? I mention that the industry is law only for clarity's sake-- I imagine this scenario is common in many industries, and I'm curious how others have handled the situation.

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?

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).