Cultural Fit Before Balance Sheet in Acquisitions

“No matter how strong the company’s financials and assets, if we didn’t think we’d be able to easily work with the acquired employees or if they didn’t have the same sense of urgency and responsive mentality that we did, then the chances of integrating that company into ours were most likely not good.”

“expenses. I observed that big companies and investors were buying companies willy-nilly and then selling off the seemingly unprofitable parts of their acquisitions. But, where they saw failing parts or pieces of businesses they did not want, I saw assets that could be rehabilitated with relatively little investment and attention; I saw businesses that could be transformed into profitable assets.  There were some hostile takeovers, and there were some subsidiary businesses that were all too often destroyed, leaving behind broken plants, broken careers, and unserved customers. So, I asked myself what if we could acquire some of these subsidiary companies, apply our greater expertise and know-how, and then turn them around? Before too long, that’s exactly what we were doing. I loved to find companies that were lodged inside the bubble of big corporations. These corporations often had no clue what was going on in these smaller subsidiaries that somehow ended up on and appeared to weigh down their balance sheets.”