MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Just know that, except in very rare cases of industry consolidation, if you miss a merger on price, life goes on. There will be another deal. There is no last best deal—there’s just deal heat that makes it feel that way.
The seventh pitfall afflicts the acquired company’s people from top to bottom—resistance. In a merger, new owners will always select people with buy-in over resisters with brains. If you want to survive, get over your angst and learn to love the deal as much as they do.
In October 2004, there was a glowing article in my hometown paper, the Boston Globe, about a “thriving survivor” named Brian T. Moynihan. Brian started his career at Fleet Bank in its mergers and acquisitions division, then over fifteen-plus years, rose through the ranks to run its wealth management business, which is what he was doing when Bank of America bought Fleet in April 2004. In the months after the merger was announced, many executives at Brian’s level were shown the door—not Brian. He was promoted to run Bank of America’s entire wealth and investment management division. In fact, Bank of America was so committed to Moynihan, it moved a hundred or so of its wealth managers from North Carolina to Boston to accommodate his leadership. “It remains precisely unclear why Moynihan emerged on top while colleagues fell,” the Globe said. It wasn’t unclear to me. All you had to do was look at a quote
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