Is a joke. Just like it’s “author” and its architect. Mountford has rested in his Cisco laurels forever. Bringing in Cisco cronies who are nothing but minions. As though they were he best of the best. He has been over his skis since day one and has a unique inability to listen to those around him who have different views.
This company lost its heart and soul. Those that fought to keep this place alive were ushered out and replaced with s— ups to PM.
Buyer for the network stuff would be folks like Juniper or broadcom (again). Juniper's SDWAN isn't doing hot and, plus, Versa are a bunch of ex-Juniper folks so there's synergy there. If we do sell the DEM BU, it would probably be at one of those older companies like a BMC or a CA technologies. And if that does happen, you can kiss Aternity/AIX goodbye because that's where software products go to pasture (and gets converted to manure).
The reorg message is vaue but the company is being split. There is hint that some of the SteelCentral products may move into the CI BU, leaving Aternity/AIX in the other. I figure if a company wants to buy our network assets, it only makes sense to bundle in the network visibility piece as well.
Who would that new buyer be. I am guessing at least a quarter until things start to move
Oh, you are absolutely correct; there was never any downside to the fat cats, regardless of outcome.
Every dice roll hits...IPO, get paid.
Major mismanagement...dog paddle until 5 years, get paid.
There’s ALREADY a buyer for the ‘new division’ waiting in the wings. Just no specific date for the show.
Kudos to the grubbers; just hope Karma catches up sooner than later.
Ive read that internal letter three times now and no joke I still have no idea whats happening.
It seems that the most key bit of information has been missing for quite some time and so I shall share.
For the past 5 years, the executive team (SVP+) were given an offer they couldn't refuse. A long-term incentive plan that paid guaranteed large payouts. Now the kicker here is that this team are the ones that defined the guidelines (or metrics) by which they'd receive this money. As time has shown us, they rested on their laurels and so it can be assumed it was equivalent to "free money" and all they had to do is the minimum and keep their mouths shut. One would this this is unethical and, however much it is, it cannot be proven by any one and so their pact will remain secret and will be denied at all costs.
Thoma Bravo - the assumption is that TB knew about this and accepted it. Why? Well, perhaps 5 years ago there was a plan to sell Riverbed in order to cover our outstanding debt. Now, this required an acquisitions in order to support such a strategy and hence we have Ocedo and Aternity - one obviously didn't pan out however, the executive team didn't care since they're getting paid anyway. Yes, there was there was a fault last December with a potential sale and so, scrambling (and having to work for the first time in 5 years) to pick up the pieces, the Versa deal appeared. This is obviously a pipe building exercise to entice a potential suiter to buy Riverbed and (perhaps) Versa at the same time. However, perhaps this suitor (and Riverbed) wanted more and hence this restructuring.
Smoke and Magic - This whole time, our executive team acted more like magicians than leaders, making us focus on one thing, while manipulating things elsewhere. In this instance, the whole conversion to an all-software company and making everyone focus on EBITDA. While any company should focus on revenue, all the execs did was spend their time figuring out ways to, ultimately, sell the company and plan out the stays of execution. While some knew that a sell off was probable, it was always disguised by the periodic leadership message that we see from PM today.
CFO departure - this one is obvious, the 5 year LTIP is over and he had no desire to stay on because he had nowhere to go when this plan was hatched.
Reminisce on the past 5 years and see all the non-movement that occurred, all the repeated messaging and (unintelligent) sales strategy - they were buying time while laughing all the way to the bank. Below is a case study by HBR on LTIP and executive behavior:
https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-case-against-long-term-incentive-plans
In the end, greed gets the best of most people. The good/honest ones will always remain financially in the middle, while the crooked sits on top. It's great to know there are far fewer rich people than middle- to middle-lower class or else this world would be completely different.