Yesterday my employer was sold by the parent corporation for a paltry sum of money. It was more or less a confirmation of what we've long felt that the parent company's true opinion of our business was. They provided no support, never took an interest in our operations, and never listened to our requests for improvements. Though we were always profitable in Yakima, we were never extremely profitable as a group. The new owners purchased seven manufacturing facilities in North America for $115 million. That's not exactly chump change, but it is also a bargain for what they received. The single building in Yakima WA cost $11 million to build in 1998. The product mix is extremely profitable, and the revenue stream is stable (with exceptions for things like 9/11 or global economic meltdowns...even then we were profitable, just less so). I'd guess that the Yakima site alone is worth $30-40 million for the land, structure, materials and equipment. If you consider that it is an already established, and profitable business, it is probably worth more. That is one site out of seven. Where the heck did they come up with $115 million for the whole ball of wax? If you look at the amount of money generated by the 7 businesses, the deal will likely break even in 2-3 years. That is pretty good ROI for a $115 million investment. The new owners are a consortium of private investors who claim to specifically seek out under performing companies in the $50-$250 million range. They then provide management and capital improvements to grow the businesses. I suspect that at least one of the 7 sites will ultimately be closed, but that should have happened years ago anyway. You'd think that selling the company during the worst recession since the Great Depression would make me nervous, but I actually think that it is an improvement in the situation.