[Hairy_Sandwich]

"b), okay point taken. So, don't work at IBM, if you can help it."

You can't really help it because there is no guarantee that IBM won't just come along and buy the company you work for. I know lots of people that quit my company when IBM bought it. For this one older lady (HR Director) she has had to keep getting new jobs because 2 of the last companies she worked for got bought by IBM. She doesn't want to work for them so she just had to find another job and then quit.

[hkmurakami]

Startups should obviously hire her as a good luck charm for getting acquired!

[PakG1]

That's a scary track record. Seriously, what are the odds? :)

[fghh45sdfhr3]

Pretty good apparently. My current small employer was almost bought by IBM. Only because it is privately owned, and the owners didn't want to sell.