Arkansas Blog

In my opinion there will continue to be a stream of departures from the executive level ranks. Pretty common-knowledge that Acxiom needed to change. It needed to change 5 years ago. Maybe longer. I'll bet you'll see next cadre of leadership/execs coming in from outside the local market. Won't be so home-grown going forward IMO.

I hate to see anyone bereft of gainful employment,

HOWEVER.....I'm pretty sure that Mr Hodges wasn't caught off guard and won't have to go to near the extremes that I did when ACX laid a bunch off in June 2001 due to an "economic downturn"

We had already given up a mandatory 5% of our pay and were also allowed/encouraged to voluntary give up another 5% or 10% with the promise of stock options on the voluntary portion
"when the turnaround comes". The voluntary reduction was time limited to 6 months (if I'm remembering that correctly)

Long story short....The pay cuts were effective around mid-March or so....We got the ACX in mid-June and had to exercise the minimal stock options by 12/31. I think I "cleared" about $13.00 on the transaction.

No, Arkie, you needn't worry too much about Lee. You see, he'll be a "consultant" for 2 more years, so he'll still be getting paid by Acxiom for a while. Unlike the 10 or so people who were let go today with no golden parachute.