Look at postings here on thelayoff.com for other, older tech companies such as Dell, HP, Microsoft, and Intel. They look very similar to everything being said here. It’s all due to the en5h1tification of everything due to greed. Consequences come home to roost.
5 replies (most recent on top)
Publicizing “IPO readiness” accomplishes three goals:
- It advertises that the company is for sale.
- It cleans up the books, so interested buyers can get a clear picture of the finances.
- It provides a guaranteed exit strategy. If there are no acceptable private offers, an IPO will sell at the highest price the market will bear.
In addition to publicizing “IPO-readiness”, owners planning to sell would also reduce headcount, by layoffs, VRBPs, and attrition. They might also create subsidiaries, so that potential buyers can easily keep or sell unrelated parts of the company. All these are actions we have seen.
A $3B annual revenue stream is an attractive asset, to a company like Broadcom, or to private equity. SAS will certainly sell, at some price.
But its value is declining. SAS owners are intelligent people. They know that the best day to sell a declining asset is yesterday.
To become "IPO-ready" in 2025, the SEC requires three years of cleaned-up books. Therefore, SAS already has two years of those.
I’d be shocked if SAS were not showing those books to interested buyers right now.
“You'll note their language is "be IPO ready" - they're not saying they're going to make a public offering. They're saying they're getting their books in order; nothing more.”
I’ll be shocked if an IPO ever happens. I’ll be even more shocked if people buy any significant amount of the stock.
It's not really greed, more complacency and incompetence.
No one in leadership has vision. To be frank, a good chunk of them failed their way upwards and have zero clue what they're doing.
Dr. G is just biding his time until exit, at which point SAS will probably get sold off and be parted out. I'd bet on this happening within the next 5 years assuming interest rates continue to decline.
You'll note their language is "be IPO ready" - they're not saying they're going to make a public offering. They're saying they're getting their books in order; nothing more.
Different companies are in different phases of life. Micro$oft still has steady revenue streams. Apple and Nvidia are doing just fine.
The comparison with Intel seems sadly apt.
Don’t bother. Folks on here are convinced SAS is the worst and is doomed.