Why Would There By A Microsoft Exodus?
Josh Kopelman is running an ad campaign on Facebook that targets Microsoft employees who may be looking to leave the company to run their own startup. He ran the campaign three months ago, with a grand total of zero takers, and the same ads are now running with a surprisingly high click through rate. Does that mean that Microsofties are looking to leave, panicking at the idea of working for a Microsoft/Yahoo hybrid?
There are a number of reason’s Josh’s ad could be getting so much attention. First off, Facebook’s ad system has been getting a lot better, and is targeting well enough to perform better. When he first ran the ad, the ad system had just launched, and was filled with bugs and bad decisions. All ads are probably performing much better these days.
Also, the new year just started. There are a million reasons that employees might want to leave Microsoft after the new year, including vested options, re-evaluating their place in the company, new year’s resolutions, and, yes, the Yahoo acquisition. Some (and I mean a very small number proportionally) Microsoft employees are redundant in a post-Yahoo world, destined to be replaced by Yahoo employees who do good work on Yahoo’s successful products.
Others are probably panicking at the acquisition price and the debt Microsoft will be taking on. I’m sure there’s a fear that $44.6 billion, and at least $10 billion in debt, plus billions in integration costs and thousands of new salaries will sink the company. If all those fears add up to 15 out of every 1,264 Microsoft employees leaving the company, it’s not great, but it’s something the company can live with.
After all, Microsoft can just replace them with Yahoos.
(via Fred Wilson)
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