Vurv Acquisition by Taleo Puts Lots of Talent Up For Grabs!

With Taleo’s acquisition of Vurv, it was fully expected that layoffs at Vurv would be inevitable.  Over the past few weeks, we’ve been hearing a lot about who will be affected in those layoffs.  I read a report from Thomson Financial earlier this week that stated 160 employees would be laid off at Vurv as a result of the acquisition.  Of those 160, we know that at least 79 workers  from Vurv’s Jacksonville, FL headquarters will be let go by July 1. Having worked with Vurv for many years, I have developed friendships and business relationships with numerous people there  and can tell you that there are some classy, talented and dedicated people now available for other Talent Management vendors to grab. Some of those individuals have already landed new jobs while others are taking their time to find the right company to move to now.  We hear that SilkRoad was one of those companies that has benefitted from the recent transitions as they have hired several former Vurv developers in the past few weeks.  SilkRoad’s acquisition of this talent as well as their recent announcement of additional funding will make them an interesting company to watch over the next few years.  Regardless of where the former Vurv employees land, I wish them all the best of luck.

Solving a piece of the puzzle… 

 

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

 

 

 

Why was the Workstream/Empagio merger agreement terminated?

Last Friday we learned that Workstream, a talent management software vendor, terminated its planned merger with Empagio, an HR systems vendor.  From the outside looking in, this merger looked to be good for Workstream, possibly providing them with much needed cash and resources.  To end the merger agreement like this is certainly puzzling, to say the least, especially when industry analysts have been singing about their death for some time now.

 

Several sources and stories that I have read recently talked about the troubles that Workstream now faces by not merging with Empagio. 

 

The company also took a hit recently from Gartner when they placed them near the bottom of its “Magic Quadrant for Talent Acquisition Software.”  From my perspective, that shouldn’t shock anyone.  While Workstream’s market entry point was recruiting, they are much better known today for their other talent management systems (especially compensation).  As we highlighted recently in HRchitect’s report, “The Suite Life of Integrated Talent Management”, Workstream’s Compensation product is robust and proven with a blue-chip list of customers.  In fact, if you visit their web site, their home page talks about “Performance, Development and Competencies.”  Again, no big mention of recruiting (although it’s offered) because it’s not their strongest product.

 

So, what’s in store next for Workstream?  Their stock is trading at $0.32 a share as of today.  Workstream sent out a press release on Monday announcing pre-release of earnings with their official earnings report due to be released on July 24th.  If you’d like to tune in to a conference call scheduled for that same day at 5:00 pm EST, you can get conference call access information on Workstream’s investor web page.

     

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds in the coming weeks and months.  Stay tuned to our blog and we’ll keep you posted.

 

 

Solving a piece of the puzzle… 

 

Matt Lafata, HRchitect