IBM paid approximately $2.6 million to $3.0 million per Red Hat employee (depending on when you count heads - offering date or closing date). When IBM paid $35.1 billion for the corporation it added $34.1 billion in "intangible assets." This Red Hat acquisition was for its people as it purchased little to no hard assets like factories, real estate and machinery.
I would be interested if you in particular were a "new" Red Hat employee that was released or if you have any information on how many Red Hat employees were released in key locations or across the company.
Thanks, and my best wishes to all that have to go through this. These darn things have been part of IBM since Gerstner started them in 1993.
My heart goes out to you and your families.