I, for one, welcome our new Nordic overlords
Like most of my co-workers, I have long expected that my happy little GeoStartup would some day be acquired by a much larger company—the IPO market being kind of shvakh these days—but I was surprised to learn which company ended up acquiring us. After having some time to reflect, though, I can appreciate what a far-sighted decision that was. A corporate group that purchases its raw materials in 55 different countries, manufactures its products in 10, distributes them from 16, and offers retail outlets in 25; a group with over a hundred thousand employees and over 20 billion euros in annual sales; a brand known worldwide for low prices, quality manufacturing, and social conscience; one that continually strives to improve itself—surely such a corporate colossus can find new and innovative uses for a cutting-edge Geographic Search and Reference Platform.
Also, that couch we bought from Jordan’s a few years back is really showing its age, and—
What’s that?
We were bought by Nokia?
Sorry. I thought it was Ikea.
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Why your e-book really isn't worth fifteen dollars Confederate necromancy
Congrats ;-)
Did this just happen today?
Do you get free furniture or free software out of the deal?
It’s been in the works for a while but it just closed this morning. MetaCarta had some employees with security clearances doing defense work, so the government had to review our new corporate structure to make sure we wouldn’t leak state secrets to Pääesikunnan tiedusteluosasto.
I will be getting a free-as-long-as-I-work-for-them cell phone, although, for some crazy reason, they’re not offering iPhone® models.
So what happens to employees who drive Kias? Will corporate policy force them to sell them?
Congratulations. Remember that if they tell you the change won’t have any immediate impact or result in layoffs you can tell if they are lying by whether their lips are moving.
One of my previous employers was bought by Lucent at the height of Dot-Com Bubble 1.0, so I am familiar with that whole Corporate BFF Dance.
I can say, without making any predictions about my future happiness, that Nokia’s golden handcuffs have more gold than Lucent’s did.