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by pm90 3587 days ago
(Disclaimer: former employee of Rackspace) That is exactly how I read it. While Rackspace has been doing pretty well, its just not growing as fast as its competition and Wall Street in concerned.

It is a big shame though. Rackspace is one of the few Texas-born companies that managed to strike it big and still have a very egalitarian culture. They have a very interesting culture and I wish it was something that could go on; a lot of my former coworkers absolutely love that environment. But it doesn't look like it will last for much longer.

2 comments

For a successful LBO, growth is largely irrelevant. What is relevant however, is that you can protect your existing market share. If you can buy a company for $1bn with $800m in debt and pay that down, and sell it for $1bn again 5 or 10 years down the line, you just made a cool $800m. If you can double the net profit, you'll be able to sell it for $2bn, etc.
They've done amazing things for the community. I can only hope that Apollo group continues the local outreach!