26 February 2008
Microsoft’s e-mail of reassurance
Reassurance for Yahoo! staff too perhaps?
Last Friday, Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s Platforms & Services division sent an e-mail to Microsoft staff to reassure them about the Yahoo! acquisition.
The e-mail, was released publicly and, although addressed to Microsoft staff, seems to have a wider focus – probably to include Yahoo! staff too.
Forward planning
As expected, the e-mail is positive about the proposed acquisition. But it also goes into some detail about what might happen next.
As expected, the e-mail is positive about the proposed acquisition. But it also goes into some detail about what might happen next.
Johnson gives an expected timeline for the transaction, if the deal goes ahead, of the 2nd half of 2008 and suggests further activities in terms of integration. He stresses that integration planning will include leaders from both companies.
Johnson deals with the question of possible redundancies by saying, “While some overlap is expected in any combination of this size, we should remember that Microsoft is a growth company that has hired over 20,000 people since 2005, and we would look to place talented employees throughout the company as a whole.”
Communicating redundancies
Not ducking the redundancy issue he continues, “There’s no question we will dedicate significant rewards and compensation to Yahoo! and Microsoft employees.”
Later, Johnson deals with combining the technical cultures of both companies, but remains noncommittal over branding. “It's premature to say which aspects of the brands and technologies we would use in our combined offerings,” he says.
How do you join forces with your external communications colleagues to align your key messages?
Johnson’s e-mail should reassure staff in Yahoo!'s Silicon Valley offices too. He says Microsoft is committed to retaining Yahoo!’s presence there.
Have your say
Has your company had to communicate a difficult merger situation to employees? How do you join forces with your external communications colleagues to align your key messages? What methods of communication do you think work best with employees during mergers and acquisitions?
Discuss these issues with other comms practitioners by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.
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