Given franks history and the desire of the top executives to cash out, it’s pretty clear the company is being prepared for sale. The actions in the last year line up exactly with what one does to accomplish that starting with massive staff reduction and simplification (no remote workers, fewer consulting contracts, etc). If you have stock, that can be a nice one time event, otherwise it’s a tough road the next year
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4000 not 400
I heard the last lay-off was 400 people. Is that true?
To paraphrase Dory in Finding Nemo...”just keep typing, just keep typing”
Don’t question leadership, fill out those engagement surveys correctly. Stay out of the limelight. The recipe for the perfect fiserv associate.
I'm not sure who would buy Fiserv-Firstdata? Private equity firms buy company's they think they can restructure and flip in a few years for a hefty profit. Fiserv-Firstdata doesn't fit that category. We're already loaded with debt and cutting expenses.
Our competitors don't need any Fiserv-Firstdata tech and would not financially benefit enough from acquiring the portfolio of business at the current market price.
I think the goal is to cut everything to the bone to service debt and maintain the share price quarter over quarter.
Except that he wasn’t Mr. fix it - actually quite the opposite. Their infrastructure was even less invested in the Fiserv’s infrastructure. Their data centers were worse than Fiserv’s and had mountains of deferred repairs and EOL systems that wasn’t allowed to be discussed during the due diligence - everyone knew about it but it wasn’t disclosed and when it it was brought up we were told to keep it quiet. The tech debt is unbelievable. None of this has gotten better since Fiserv was taken over it just continues to get worse and quality keeps declining. I am embarrassed to work here now and I embarrassed of the quality we deliver. I embarrassed when systems fail and we miss client expectations. What a joke this has become. Morale is so low now that no one cares that the house is falling a part due to under investment in infrastructure. Why? Does anyone care anymore....?
Agreed. Fiserv was heading for a fall prior to being acquired. Frank is mr fix it to Wall Street and the institutional investors forced Jeff into this move. He saves face and frank pumps up the bottom line. It was brought on by years of mismanagement and hubris. It’s an interesting study it what happens when arrogance takes over leadership
Except I’ve come to realize it wasn’t even a merger, it was a reverse acquisition where the acquired takes over under a better name.
Being both a laid off employee during Frank's reign at FD then becoming a Fiserv employee, I can tell you that Frank does NOT believe in remote employment. That is his philosophy regardless of whether there is a future plan to sell the company. At First Data, KKR brought him in after they purchased the company. The debt was already there so we cannot completely blame Frank for that. YES he laid off A LOT! This was to prepare for the IPO. For him it is truly all about Wall Street. With the Fiserv MERGER (because lets face it, that's what it was) promises were made to Wall Street to get rid of redundancies, cut expenses, combine offices, They are indeed pillaging right now... they have no choice. They are desperate! And its been said but I will restate it - HE DOESNT CARE ABOUT ANY OF US.... They can rehire later. And he will still find a way to make millions. Pay close attention to the ridiculous compensation he has made year after year at First Data... He is the epitome of corporate greed.
Hard to sell something with the mountains of tech debt, unfinished major initiatives, crumbling physical infrastructure and inferior technology hidden from potential suitors. Buyers are much smarter than that and will uncover it during due diligence. Too bad auditors and regulators are not smart enough OR tough enough to uncover these flaws on behalf of the financial community. Turning a blind eye doesn’t mean the problems don’t exist - they most certainly do.
If Frank and cronies are no longer in charge after the sale then I'm ALL for it
@OP+14NIYIMB I agree with you, and that was likely their intent at the beginning of the year, but I think that's going to be put on hold for now.
The usual suspects, Bain Capital, Silverlake, and suchlike, are hoarding cash right now, so nobody is going to want to buy until the COVID garbage is over, and the economy gets back to good. Also, there wouldn't be much money in it right now since lots of companies will be hurting and BoDs willing to cash out for lots less than the greedy asses like JY and FB are willing to hold out for.
If anything they'll likely do a leveraged stock buyback, which means they and the BoD gets insanely rich and run off with massive amounts of money, while Fiserv gets saddled with back-breaking debt to finance it.
Who would be the buyer?