The Acquisition

This All-Hands meeting was bigger, more important than any before it. Madi and a handful of BrandiCon Media leaders just brokered an acquisition between their little content agency and mega brand, Flash Films. This All-Hands would be a virtual gathering and their one big opportunity to share the exciting news with the broader team to insure they all stayed with the company after the ink dried.

Only a handful of folks knew about the deal until the announcement earlier this morning. Now the world knew. Flash, being a public company, had issued its formal announcement on the private and non-disclosed purchase of BrandiCon at 7:02 am EST – before market open. She was pretty sure outsiders as well as her own employees would surmise, she had made boatloads from the transaction. Only she knew that keeping company viable meant selling to a big pockets brand. Only she knew the deal almost went south in the eleventh hour. Only she really knew how hard they squeezed her in the final negotiations and in the end, she was really very grateful to snag a little over a million.

BrandiCon’s IT guru, “Sam the Man” as he was lovingly called, ambled over to Madi waiting by herself beside the production desk.

“Hey, Chief,” he said as he approached her. “Five minutes to show time.”

“Got it,” replied Madi. “Thanks, Sam. I’ll be ready.”

“Big news this morning,” said Sam, as he adjusted the lavalier mic on her leather jacket.

“Yeah.” She reached for her patent leather cosmetic bag laying on the corner of the desk. “It’s really good news for everybody, Sam. Let me know what you think after the All-Hands. I’d be interested in your takeaway.”

Sam shot her a thumbs up and turned to make his way to the other side of the curtain where he’d announce her. Madi opened the make-up bag, touched up her blood red lips, and blotted away the shine on her nose. She closed the compact, stuffed it back into the bag and walked over to the ready area to await her queue. It wasn’t the speaking she minded, it was the waiting.

It was a near miss in getting this deal done. Flash knew they had the leverage, that BrandiCon’s cash flow was dangerously low. They pressed harder than mammogram techs into the viability of the company, its clients and ultimately Madi’s intent to stay through the transition. She had intended to leave. Now she wasn’t. That was part of the deal. She got the rock bottom price that worked for everyone along with a year of “golden handcuffs” and a nice little surprise. Just like the other 39 employees they gave her a surprise $20,000 retention bonus along with the expected, fatter, six-digit bonus in twelve months.

It’s ironic, she reflected, the sweat equity I put into building this company yielded so little. After taxes, I barely had enough to pay down bills let alone continue to enjoy the standard of living I’ve achieved.

Madi adjusted the hem of her dress and shifted her weight from her left to her right leg. Waiting made her fidgety. She thought about slide five – the picture of her small black book with the title “Bucket List.” That journal had been where she tracked her dream destinations and must-do before I die activities. It’s also why she used it in the presentation -- she’d be sharing today she’d be taking off time this Summer for a sabbatical to Africa – one of her top Bucket List entries in that little black book of hers.

“I’ve put my life on hold these past eight years to build the company,” regret swirling in her head.” “No more,” she insisted to herself, thinking of the year that lie ahead. “That ‘little kiss’ of a retention bonus would go toward her trip. A short but necessary reprieve to serving under the weight of Flash. A chance to dust off that little black book.

Africa soon. Focus on the All Hands now, she thought, and she turned and readied to walk out in front of the cameras.