Corporate takeovers

[Silvermoth]

Okay, you may think I'm beating a dead horse here but if you could read this post to it's end, I would much appreciate it.

I was just playing the game "Conker: Live and Reloaded" and I thought about how terrible Rareware (the developer) became after Microsoft bought them out. Youtube has the same problem with google, now it's just full of adds and is way to similar to old media. This got me worrying about the Marvel/Disney takeover.

Does anyone know about any takeovers that resulted in something wonderful happening? Not just economically but in terms of the audience's pleasure? It would do alot to assuage my worry.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Hmmm for me Rare or Rareware only ever had one good game anyway: Goldeneye.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

One thing to note is that many movies studios were taken over at one time or another and yet have continued to enteratin us with some good quality movies.

However Company takeovers are not done to maximise the audience's pleasure, rather it is done to hopefully maximise shareholder value by increasing company profits.

 

[BlackLantern]

Okay, you may think I'm beating a dead horse here but if you could read this post to it's end, I would much appreciate it.

I was just playing the game "Conker: Live and Reloaded" and I thought about how terrible Rareware (the developer) became after Microsoft bought them out. Youtube has the same problem with google, now it's just full of adds and is way to similar to old media. This got me worrying about the Marvel/Disney takeover.

Does anyone know about any takeovers that resulted in something wonderful happening? Not just economically but in terms of the audience's pleasure? It would do alot to assuage my worry.

depends on your perspective:

Fleet Bank (a bank here in the northeast, was on the verge of collapse, and they got bought out by a bigger bank and that saved people a lot of money)

Comcast took over service in my area after 2 or 3 different companies went bankrupt and things have been pretty good since, prices have even gone down a smidge

Mergers are not about you, they are about maximizing profit for the purchasing company/party

the guys who founded YouTube didn't have to sell, but they did because Google offered them a ****load of money...same with Rare

 

[Majic Walrus]

Also think of mergers like big corporate mobster weddings. Many times company A will have lots and lots of money and not even know what to do with it while company B will have very little money but lots of great assets and avenues to explore. When company becomes AB this means that it has all of A's money and all of B's idea.

Also corporate many times company A and company B are both small and have similar interests and attempt to make the world a better place by the popular "our powers combined" method of business.

Very rarely are there "G4TechTV" style takeovers where shareholders, employees, and business practices are shoved out the door strong arm style in favor of "More shows with lolcats and ****!"

 

[Figs]

Hmmm for me Rare or Rareware only ever had one good game anyway: Goldeneye.

Not even Killer Instinct?

Personally I don't think much good comes with takeovers. In most cases, people that work for the company that was taken over get laid off. Other times, whether it's a takeover or a large company buying a smaller company to be their subsidiary, bonuses are the first thing to go. This has happened to me with my current job and my last job when I was in the mortgage industry.

I'm mature and wise enough to know that you're lucky if you get a job that gives bonuses and they should never be expected. To be honest, I don't mind if they get taken away since you don't necessarily deserve one. My problem with bonuses always being one of the first things to go is after one company gets bought by a larger one, they start to brag to their employees that they are making way more money now.

It also ties into times when an almost entire workforce gets laid off as I mentioned above. The larger company does that to start fresh and pay the new employees a whole lot less since the ones that got laid off were there for some time and have most likely had multiple raises over the years.

I love America and realize a huge factor in how we became one of the top world powers, economy wise especially(not lately of course), is due to the rise of corporations. My problem is that I believe they have overstayed their welcome in a way and there is way too much greed involved and most employees get treated like **** and sheep. If I didn't purchase movies and books from Amazon.com and Best Buy I would consider myself anti-corporate.

They pretty much have the American work force by the balls. If we try to demand better conditions or more pay and they want to be greedy as they are, they can just give us the finger and send their work over to India or some other country which I think is completely screwed. It's like, yeah ok, take away from the economy of the country that allowed and was the reason you even exist and grew over time.

Silvermoth, I also agree that Rare got worse once they left Nintendo. Crappy mistake on their part to go to Microsoft.