Questions to Ask When Your Company is Being Acquired
Questions for employees after an acquisition is announced. They cover what leadership can say before the deal closes, what happens to your role, equity, benefits and severance, and what to check before signing anything new.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What has been announced publicly, and what can you tell us that is not in the announcement?
Why ask it
Before a deal closes there are real limits on what leadership may say, especially with a public company or a regulatory review pending. Asking this way separates genuine constraint from avoidance, and a manager who explains the constraint is worth trusting later.
When is the deal expected to close, and what has to happen before it does?
Why ask it
Shareholder votes, regulatory approval and financing conditions all sit between signing and closing, and any of them can add months. The gap matters because most decisions about people are made after close, not before.
Does my role still exist in the combined company?
Why ask it
Overlap in finance, marketing, IT, HR and support functions is where duplication is usually removed. A direct question sometimes gets a direct answer, and a careful non-answer is itself worth registering.
When will decisions about roles be made, and how will people be told?
Why ask it
The date is more useful than a reassurance. Knowing whether it is two weeks or two quarters, and whether news arrives by manager conversation or by email, lets you plan instead of refreshing your inbox.
Who will I report to after close?
Why ask it
If nobody can name the person, the reporting structure has not been designed yet, which means role decisions are also unmade. That is a more honest signal about the state of planning than any all-hands slide.
What happens to my unvested equity or options?
Why ask it
Treatment varies: options may be cashed out, converted into the acquirer's stock, cancelled, or accelerated in part. Ask for it in writing with your own grant dates applied, because the general policy and your specific grant can differ.
What happens to my salary, bonus and commission plan for this year?
Why ask it
Bonus plans tied to targets the company will no longer report against are a common casualty, and commission structures often change with the new sales organization. Ask whether the current plan is honored through the year or replaced at close.
What changes about benefits, and will there be any gap in coverage?
Why ask it
Moving to the acquirer's plans can reset deductibles mid-year, change networks, and alter retirement matching. If you or a family member is in active treatment, the transition date and whether your doctors are in network are the details that matter.
What happens to accrued vacation, and does my start date carry over?
Why ask it
Original hire date usually governs vesting, seniority, sabbatical eligibility and severance formulas. Companies sometimes reset it by accident during a systems migration, and it is far easier to correct before that happens.
If my role is eliminated, what would the severance be, and can I see it in writing?
Why ask it
Asking early, calmly, before anything is decided, is normal and reasonable. What you want to know is the formula, whether notice or health coverage is included, and whether existing agreements already promise something.
Am I being asked to sign anything new, and may I take it away to read?
Why ask it
Acquisitions often come with new offer letters, non-competes, arbitration clauses or intellectual property assignments. You are entitled to read them, ask what changed from your current terms, and have someone review them before you sign.
If there is a retention bonus, what are the exact conditions and dates?
Why ask it
Retention payments usually require you to stay through a date and often lapse if you resign or are moved. Get the trigger, the amount, the tax treatment and what happens if the company lets you go before the date.
Which products and teams continue, and which are being wound down?
Why ask it
Acquirers buy for a reason: a customer base, a technology, a team, or to remove a competitor. Knowing which one you work on tells you more about your next year than any statement about culture.
Will my team stay together, and does our roadmap survive the transition?
Why ask it
Teams are often kept intact on paper while their priorities are replaced. Ask what you should still be building in ninety days, since that answer reveals whether the work is genuinely continuing.
What tools, systems and approval processes change, and when?
Why ask it
Migrations of email, payroll, expense and ticketing systems consume more of the first six months than most people expect. Knowing the sequence helps you protect the work that has deadlines attached.
Does anything change about my location, office or remote arrangement?
Why ask it
Return-to-office policies and location requirements frequently follow the acquirer's rules rather than yours. If your arrangement was informal, this is the moment to get it confirmed in writing.
What should I say to customers, partners and candidates who ask me about this?
Why ask it
There is usually approved language, and using it protects you as much as the company. Asking also flags to leadership that people outside are asking, which they may not have considered.
What should I stop doing now, and what still matters this quarter?
Why ask it
Uncertainty makes people either freeze or work on everything. A manager who can name two things that still count is giving you the most useful guidance available during a transition.
Who do I go to when I hear something I cannot verify?
Why ask it
Rumor is the default information system in an acquisition, and it is usually wrong in the direction of alarm. Naming one person to check with saves weeks of anxiety across a team.
What does this change about my own plan for the next year?
Why ask it
This is the question to sit with privately. The answer might be to stay and see, to bank the retention payment, or to start looking now, and it should be decided against your own circumstances rather than the mood in the office.
Working through the announcement and the months after
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
What leadership can and cannot tell you
Before close, much of it is genuinely undecided
Between signing and closing the two companies often remain legally separate and limited in what they may plan jointly. Vague answers in this period are frequently accurate rather than evasive.
Ask for dates rather than reassurance
"Nothing is changing" cannot be verified and is rarely true for long. "Role decisions are made in October and communicated by managers" is something you can hold and plan around.
Write down what you were told and when
Promises about title, pay, location and reporting lines are made verbally in this period by people who may not be there in six months. A dated note, or a short email confirming your understanding, is worth having.
Paperwork to gather now
- Your offer letter and any amendments, including anything that mentions severance or change of control.
- Your equity grant documents and vesting schedule, with grant dates and exercise deadlines.
- The current bonus or commission plan document, not the summary slide.
- Benefits confirmations, plan year deductibles already met, and accrued vacation balance.
- Any non-compete, non-solicit or intellectual property agreement you have already signed.
- Performance reviews and a copy of work you can legitimately keep as a record of what you did.
- Contact details for colleagues you would want to reach after email access ends.
Looking after yourself without checking out
Keep doing the work, and keep it visible
In a combined organization your new leadership will decide about people they do not know. Being the person who kept a customer or a release on track through the transition is the only argument that travels.
Meet your counterparts at the other company early
Whoever holds your equivalent role will shape decisions about both of you. A straightforward introduction, before any restructuring, tends to be easier than one afterwards.
Update your options quietly
Refreshing a resume and taking a recruiter call is prudent, not disloyal, and it reduces the pressure to accept whatever is offered later. It is also easier to do while you are still employed.
Get advice before you sign anything unusual
An employment lawyer reviewing a severance or retention agreement is a modest cost against the amounts at stake. If you are on a work visa, check the immigration consequences of the entity change before your status depends on it.