The only viable strategy is to sell to a PE firm to take TDC private and they will milk the cash flow from support revenue. They will sell off most assets while phasing out new R & D. SM is already discussing this with the board. He will get a huge exit package. What a sad ending. If you are still there get out now unless you are 12 months from retirement.
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The ELT have no experience on how to turn around a business. They've come to these positions with relatively no challenges in life and have brown nosed their way to where they are. They've never faced a position like they face now which is a dying company, shrinking revenue, customer unsatisfaction, high competition and lack of innovation in the product. Their lack of skills, knowledge and inexperience do not equip them to deal with the current situation. So instead, they look for the easy way out.
Deep talent? Years of constant layoffs, competitive poaching and staff retirements has left TD’s DATABASE development talent pool looking more like a kiddy pool (no deep end). These trends continue unabated. Don’t even suggest TD can hire such talent from the outside as these skilled candidates ignore TD for better pay and opportunity from the competition all whom are growing in revenue, customer base and headcount.
This kind of defeatist thinking is exactly why companies stagnate and get carved up by private equity in the first place. If the ELT's only “viable” strategy is to hand the company over to PE vultures so they can extract every last dollar before dismantling it, then we don’t have a leadership team—we have a liquidation committee.
I believe there is always another path. One that doesn’t involve rolling over and playing dead while short-term investors squeeze every last drop out of what could be a thriving company again. TD has deep talent, strong intellectual property, and a core customer base that still values what we offer. The problem isn’t that selling is inevitable—it’s that the current ELT is too lazy, too narrow-minded, or too comfortable to think beyond the easy payday. Real leaders don’t cash out and walk away. They find ways to grow.
Innovation isn’t dead- A great strategy could reignite R&D and push us into markets where we belong. Operational efficiency isn’t about cost-cutting, it should be about making bold moves—reshaping the go-to-market approach, modernizing offerings, and refusing to let bureaucracy slow us down. Culture drives performance, but if employees see their leaders giving up, why should they fight for the company?
If the board is entertaining this because they think there’s no other option, they need a wake-up call. Private equity only looks like the easy answer when the people in charge have stopped trying to find better ones. In my opinion, this company deserves leaders who believe in its future—not just their own golden parachutes.
The lifeboats left long ago. All you can do now is sit on the deckchairs, listen to the band playing until she goes under. Mind you the captain (SM) will be picked up by a private boat and ferried quickly away from any of the poor souls left to stay afloat
“Get out now”… or… wait for the severance?