Thread regarding Open Text Corp. layoffs

Ayman Antoun’s appointment is a clear signal that the "acquisition spree" era is over and the "operational discipline" era has begun. Antoun is a 30-year IBM veteran, most recently serving as President of IBM Americas—essentially the "CEO" of IBM’s largest market.
Based on his "Big Blue" background and the current state of OpenText, here is a forecast of what his First 100 Days (starting April 20, 2026) will likely look like for employees.

1. The "IBM-ification" of Culture (Days 1–30)
   Antoun comes from a culture of high compliance, formal sales structures, and rigorous performance management.
   • RTO will be non-negotiable: IBM has been one of the most aggressive tech giants in enforcing Return-to-Office. The "5-day mandate" scheduled for September 2026 aligns perfectly with his management style. Expect him to enforce it strictly as a test of loyalty and attrition.
   • The "Utilization" Metric: If you are in Professional Services or Engineering, expect IBM-style "utilization rates" to become the primary metric. You will need to log every hour against a billable project or a specific product release. "General admin" time will be scrutinized.
2. The Portfolio "Garage Sale" (Days 30–60)
   Antoun’s background is in Infrastructure, Cloud, and Security. He is not a "legacy software" guy; he is a "modernization" guy.
   • The "Keep" Pile: He will double down on the assets that look like IBM’s growth portfolio: Cybersecurity (Enterprise only), Content Cloud, and Aviator (AI).
   • The "Sell" Pile: He will likely accelerate the divestiture of assets that don't fit the "Hybrid Cloud & AI" narrative. The Micro Focus ADM (Application Delivery Management) and Mainframe/COBOL units are highly vulnerable here. If it can't be sold as "AI-ready," he will likely want it off the balance sheet to pay down debt.
3. The Org Chart "Flattening" (Days 60–90)
   IBM is famous for matrix organizations where Sales and Product are tightly coupled.
   • Sales Re-alignment: Expect him to break down the silos between "Renewals" and "New Sales." He will likely implement a model where "Client Success Managers" (CSMs) are more aggressively quota-carrying.
   • Middle Management Purge: To improve margins (a key mandate from the Board), he will likely look to remove layers of middle management that were created during the Micro Focus integration. If you are a manager who "coordinates" but doesn't "execute" (code or sell), you are at risk.

Prediction: Antoun will likely announce a "New Strategic Plan" in roughly July 2026 (end of his first quarter). This plan will almost certainly officially re-classify the "Micro Focus" assets into "Strategic" vs. "Non-Strategic" buckets, signaling the final breakup of that acquisition.

@pm all in prep to sell Muhi’s divisions.

When Ayman Antoun arrives, his primary focus will be on the Shannon Bell side of the house (AI & Cloud), while Muhi Majzoub keeps the lights on for the legacy installed base.

Who else needs a gibberish translator for @pj?

@d3 he was the emperor with no. Clothes... Crazy stuff.. I wrote 40. Books.. books of rubbish.. reminded me of the wizard in harry potter giving Harry his full library books.. every month if facebook or someone else had an idea.. he'd add opentext in front of it. He's the reason company is done.. glad I got. Out in time... Shannon bell is the only one doing actual work.. but she needs to ditch some. Of the old OT heads that. Haven't a clue..ask yourself why they have not upgraded SAP so long
.or can't integrate...kept an architect employee for 25 years spewing fear mongering...market has picked up.now in uk plenty jobs
.

@e3 if they can pivot to more cloud the value of the company doubles or. More.. ignoring revenue apparently

@ma lol

Or the gremlins they spun out at Nashville.... Goose and co

@n2 yes - send in the clowns!

@me It’s way too late.

OT can weld shut the doors on empty stables as much as it likes. It won’t solve anything.

@mf The current sales “strategy” is to pick a small subset of the client base and hound them into flipping to SaaS and calling it a new win.

Meanwhile, the rest of the client base gets ignored and migrates away.

Another OT doom loop.

@jy truth. Tough to sell new. Easier to pretend you are.

@ma right we shouldn’t have a customer engagement philosophy. Neither should SAP, ORCL, Sfdc. LOVE is the problem. Not an anemic selling org.

@jy agreed. it’s always been a sales and selling issue. And you can’t grow if you’re focused on your sales coming from renewals and calling it new. Rearranging the deck chairs is not enough.

@kd yeah sure it was Muhi’s idea to force rto right now. Come on now, Y’all aren’t getting it, there is still a CEO even if it’s interim. The decision on RTO at every company is a CEO one. Wake up. Not everyone sees RTO the same, but the only real opinion that matters is the current CEO.

@jy everything should work out if we apply the LOVE model.

Funny just a year ago Muhi talk about how great are digital tools are so we can work at home see minute 4 on https://youtu.be/j2iGed0yxz8?si=AQC_qGvh1lP6UqcD

It’s impossible to be a hunter here in sales. and as farmers we see customers not wanting to spend more money with us unless they have to. Most renewals book because the customer is still using our software but they are looking for an off ramp. Our best days are behind us.

@jp Which is weird when you think about it.

We value renewals because it's mostly consistent with a lil uplift. Yet if there's ever a dispute between Renewals and Sales - Sales almost always wins.

No one's happy here at opentext some days.

Hard to be a seller at this company. Renewal revenue is somehow more important than modern platforms, co solutioning and delivering results. Seems like a yes man org with no plans of changing. Sad.

@fx "...a "Zombie Company"—one that exists solely to collect maintenance fees from trapped customers until they eventually migrate away."

This HAS BEEN the company for the last 15+ years.

@ec Agreed. By reverting to a strategy of Renewals and Reductions, we risk becoming a "Zombie Company"—one that exists solely to collect maintenance fees from trapped customers until they eventually migrate away. We cannot cut your way to growth forever. This seems like the end.

Like him or not, his announcement of the new AI platform was exiting, for the first time in years OT was going to build something. It made sense and OT looked to have a big chance at leading this. Seems like it's gone now, Muhi and Shannon will focus on renewals and reducing employees. This will be fatal for OT.

Sav, you would be wise to stop talking to employees like they are your children with whom are are dying to impart your wisdom.
Treat your next set of team members as equals and you'll be better off.

@e3 So, the renewals team is basically going to become a pop-up ad for AI that nobody wants, that OT is just reselling from another vendor who is failing to generate profit from it, and increasing my renewals fees to cover up churn?

How is that supposed to be a good thing? It just screams desperation.

Are you drunk or just stupid?

@e3 OMG ! So the Renewal team are going to pivot from emailing procurement or a partner once in a while to defining a client’s strategic direction as a new found trusted advisor?

I’m off to find my life belt.

The Renewals function is undergoing a major strategic pivot. It is no longer just about keeping the lights on. It is now the primary engine for the Cloud Acceleration program. With Ted involved, renewals will likely become sales opportunities. Expect the Renewals teams to be pushed to sell the upgrade to Cloud/AI rather than just renewing subscriptions.

The company has moved to a Cloud Acceleration model. Instead of one CTO (Savinay) trying to do everything, we now have Shannon leading the Future (Enterprise AI and Business Networks) and Muhi securing the Core (Content and Cyber with the idea of divesting these).

First time I laid eyes on this doofus was whilst streaming OT World. Dressed in all in black with faded black jeans like some aging hipster doofus. Long as I've been here, I've never once seen an executive that I'd describe with the adjective - innovative. They are all bland functionaries. Process people. Worse than when I worked for Lucent.

Graveyard for old software in the comment above is right on the money. And all that software was, from what I've seen, acquired from a loser company - one that lost out. One that they generally paid too much for. In my case, the company I worked for that they bought, they paid over double the market value then proceeded to ruin the product. They've done it many times since.

Almost everything they do, I wonder 'how does this make us money?'

I was helping test our AI functionality for a product. I got kicked off the team because I argued with the H1-b engineer because she told me 'You aren't asking it questions in the right way". The right way, meaning leading it to the answer. Hoofa! I gotta get outta here while I can.

@a4 given back most of the BUs again. Truly unsettling and ridiculous really.

Good riddance to this fraud! Rowing in the same direction? What is this a 1980s motivational poster?

@bh I have been telling y'all this since MB was forklifted out of his office.

Hilarious. OT releases a LinkedIn video of Berry talking about the importance of Partners (or some such nonsense) on the same day he leaves.

Utterly clueless.

With the CTO/CPO is gone less than 6 months after the CEO was ousted, it heavily reinforces the breakup or sale thesis over the turnaround thesis. The OpenText 3.0 Strategy is likely dead since he was the primary architect of the Information Management for AI product strategy. He was the one convincing customers (and investors) that OpenText could pivot from being a graveyard for old software to a modern AI data platform. So if the architect is gone, the building isn't getting built. This suggests the board has stopped investing in new product visions and is purely focused on financial engineering (cost-cutting). It signals a sales preparation. When a company prepares to sell itself (or split into pieces), the visionary roles (CTO/CPO) often become irrelevant or frustrated because the mandate shifts from innovate to freeze and polish. Management may be freezing the roadmap to make the financials look better for a private equity buyer. A product-focused leader like him would likely clash with a keep the lights on budget. He was viewed by many employees as the continuity figure, the guy who understood the tech stack while the interim CEO handled the sales/ops side. Without him, there is no technical North Star (remember the OpenText way bullseye) left in the C-Suite. The leadership team is now dominated by Sales, Finance, and Strategy roles, a classic makeup for a company looking to be acquired.

He had a different vision from the board. They want puppets which are the remainder of the ELT are.

H1-B for the win!

@b1 He wasn't completely bad. I was entranced by the squirrels playing on his roof in the background during his all hands calls. Seriously, cute as he-l.

He talked a big talk about growth but delivered nothing. He should not have been brought back in the first place.

@ay Really short stint for a CTO too. Usually speaks to something nefarious. But given it's OT, it might just be politics.

He completed his 1 yr tenure today.

Don’t worry Shannon is still there . She will drive AI with her pawns.

It appears they’ve appointed a new CEO. The previous leadership wasn’t delivering the impact the organization needed. The broader MB team, including many VPs and directors, should be held accountable as well, and fired since there’s been little evidence of meaningful contribution despite the compensation levels. There are multiple bullsh-tters here than the actual contributors.