The name may fade but the jobs will stay
The name may fade but the jobs will stay
Staff at backup software company Veritas who may have been feeling a little insecure over their future job prospects since the company's $13 billion acquisition by security software vendor Symantec can breathe a little easier, after Veritas CEO Gary Bloom said their would be no large scale culling of jobs at the two companies following the massive merger.
Mindful of the apprehension and uncertainty experienced by employees following such announcements, particularly in the wake of Oracle's announcement that it would get rid of several thousand employees from its recently acquired business software rival PeopleSoft, Veritas, chairman and CEO, Gary Bloom told the audience at the launch of the latest version of the company's Backup Exec application:
"This is not a merger that is about reducing costs. While there will be synergies between the companies, unlike the Oracle/PeopleSoft deal, which was all about cutting back on the competition and slashing jobs, this merger is about two companies who are leading in their respective markets coming together to innovate."
While acknowledging that the companies would be working together to trim cost to a certain extent, Bloom said this would have very little impact on the size of the combined workforce.
"We are looking to reduce cost through the pooling of certain operations with a view to saving something in the region of US$100 million a year, which is a very small part of the two companies' overall costs."
Bob Maness, vice president of product marketing and management, application management group at Veritas, echoed Bloom's view as to the opportunities the new combination offers, even going as far as to also cite the Oracle deal.
"We think the coming together of the two companies will spur innovation, unlike the Oracle/PeopleSoft merger which was really about stamping out competition and cutting jobs. Another major difference is the fact that there is very little overlap between us."
Little overlap there may be, but the markets hardly welcomed the news of the merger with open arms when it was announced back in December.
Glenn Groshans, director, product marketing of Veritas' data management group, shared his thoughts on why this was so, when the lack of overlap described by the companies would lead most to think they were the ideal fit.
"If I understood how the market works, I wouldn't have to work, but joking aside, what customers and analysts see is two companies coming together not because either one needs the other, but because they can do more together.
"I think the market was looking at the terrific annual growth figures that Symantec were posting, which were in the region of 40 percent. While Veritas has also been growing at a fair pace, we were not quite matching Symantec's, so I think the market came to the conclusion that the merger would slow down that growth.
"It should also be noted though that it is not uncommon for the stock of the acquiring company to take a bit of a dip in the aftermath of a merger announcement."
Meanwhile, while it has already been announced that the new combined company will be called Symantec, Veritas' Maness said while the integration of the companies has yet to be finalised, the chances are the Veritas name will live on in some capacity.
"We have invested a lot in the marketing of the brand Veritas, so just as Symantec used the name Norton for its anti-virus product, which came from the company of the same name it bought the technology from, where we see a real value in it we will continue use the name Veritas from a product standpoint."
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