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On Thursday last, Aegis PLC confirmed the acquisition of the Toronto-based Mindblossom. Why do I care? Well, to be completely honest, I don’t. In fact, I knew about the sale before 99% of the industry did (And please don’t bother asking, I don’t reveal my sources). So why am I posting about it now? I find the acquisition very interesting on a number of levels. You see, up until recently I worked there. I will not post that part of the story, but if you would like to hear about it, feel free to contact me. Its quite a juicy story.

I started working at Mindblossom in January of 2007, and initially I loved working there. I had some professional problems with a few of the staff, but these were rectified over time. I was of the opinion that Mindblossom would be my final stop on the way to a career. That statement couldn’t have been farther from the truth. As time wore on, I grew more and more burdened in my work load, to a point where I was working nights and weekends consistently to meet deadlines. I am not even going to TOUCH on the reasons why that happened; frankly it’s not worth it. I left the company in late September, and that’s where this part of the story comes to a close.

Fast-forward 2 weeks in time. Rumors of an impending sale of Mindblossom start flying about. The gears in my head start spinning wildly, and I called around to various contacts in the industry to confirm this. As I had suspected, the rumors were in fact true. Mindblossom executive branch staff were in talks with Aegis to sell the company to join an already growing-like-a-weed digital marketing agency.

My thoughts on the matter? Here goes:

The sale is GREAT for Mindblossom. They can be part of a larger offering, so the potential for more clients, and an increased revenue stream is there. Who in their right mind would say no to more clients and more money? Being a business owner, I certainly wouldn’t unless absolutely necessary.

But what about the staff that are left? (And for the record, there aren’t 45 like the press release says. I’d say that number is no more than 25-30 maximum.) What will happen with them? Will they be rolled into the new company? Given a cardboard box and 5 minutes? This is what worries me about this acquisition. Some of these people are my friends, people I’ve gotten to know and care about, and it sucks when you lose a job like that.

I certainly hope that the new management team at Mindblossom (if they will retain that name) will think long and hard about how they will deal with this very sensitive matter.

So to Robert Lerwill, the CEO of Aegis Group PLC, I say this:

This is a clean slate, an opportunity to rebuild Mindblossom. A chance to right the wrongs, re-establish a positive reputation for a company that has been so publicly battered and bruised, and perform in such a way to surpass everyone’s expectations. Certainly, it will take alot of hard work, and difficult decisions will need to be made along the bumpy route, but that is par for the course in any business. Best of luck to you in your endeavor.