They Call It Redundant. You Call It Your Life.
What to do when the merger comes and your position is on the line.
If broadcasting is your passion, you need to understand something. It is also a business.
In a business, you can get caught in the middle of mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, and cost-cutting strategies that have nothing to do with your talent or your work ethic but most of the time, the only one who might be losing at the end of that game is you.
It has been happening for decades. It will keep happening. And it is not limited to one country or one company. It is not personal.
For instance, in the United States, two of the biggest media companies just merged and created what, on paper, is the largest local TV station group in the country. In practice, it created thousands of people wondering if they still have a career next month. Most of the executives walked away with millions in bonuses. Floor crews, audio operators, and news control room operators walked away with termination notices.
One of them posted on Reddit: "I want to give up."
Not "I am frustrated." Not "I am exploring options."
"I want to give up."
I have been through this. Years ago, new leadership came into a company I worked for and the first thing they wanted to do was cut costs and change how things were done. Not because things were broken, but because that is how the Argentinian executives wanted to show their value to the owner. They show up, cut positions, and call it efficiency.
If you are going through this right now, or if you have been through it before, you know what I am talking about. The uncertainty. The anxiety. The sleepless nights calculating how long your savings will last.
Forget "Stay Calm"
Let me be honest with you. All those comments about "stay calm, take it easy, clear your mind" do not work.
It is not their bank account. It is not their family that depends on the money you bring home. It is yours. So instead of telling you to breathe, I am going to tell you to act.
Three things you can do right now.
1. Identify What You Can Control
This is the most important step because it tells you where to put your energy today, not next month, not when the layoffs are announced. Today.
What you can control right now:
The quality of your current work. The show you have next weekend. Whether you update your CV or keep putting it off. Whether you start reaching out to your network for opportunities.
If you read the last edition of The Ministry of Broadcasting about asking for help finding a job, this is where it connects. The people who start moving before the announcement are always in a better position than those who wait for it.
What you cannot control: the CEO's plan, the investor call, the spreadsheet that decides which positions are "redundant." Let that go. Focus on what you can actually move.
2. Face the Worst That Could Happen
Put the worst scenario on paper. Not in your head at 3 AM. On paper.
The worst that can happen is that you lose your job. If you lose your job, you live on savings for a period of time. During that time, you find something. Maybe not the same role. Maybe not the same salary. But you find something.
I can tell you this because thousands of broadcasting professionals have done it. You will go through a tough moment. You will have doubts about yourself. You will wonder if they fired you because you were not good enough. And then you will bounce back.
When the worst is written down and you have a plan for it, it loses its power over you.
3. Put Yourself First
This is the hardest one. Especially if you have been with your company for years.
You think the company is your life. The people you have worked with for a decade, they feel like family. And some of them are. But the company itself is a business. And when the business needs to cut costs, loyalty does not protect you. A spreadsheet does not care how many long days you gave them.
Putting yourself first is not being disloyal. It is being smart.
If a new opportunity comes your way that gives your family stability, you cannot hesitate. You do not need to feel one percent bad about looking for new opportunities while your company is going through a merger. That is not betrayal. That is survival.
If you wait, your anxiety grows. Your options shrink. And at the end, the executives who managed the deal walk away with millions while you walk away with a broken heart and maybe a package if you are lucky.
Don't Take It Personal
I know. Even reading that line is hard.
Watching a company you gave years of your life to get restructured, downsized, or merged into something unrecognizable hurts. Getting laid off without an explanation, or worse, finding out via email, sucks. There is no way around that.
But here is what I have learned.
The people making these decisions are doing their job. Most of the time, you are just a number to them. They do not even look at your name. They look at your salary and how much money your position represents in the restructuring plan. That is it.
So don't take it against your boss. Don't take it against the company. Don't let the anger push you into a message or a conversation you will regret.
Be respectful. Accept the decision. And walk away with the best you can get, or walk away toward the new opportunity you already started building if you followed the steps above.
It is business. It sucks, but it is part of how this market works. And the bridges you keep intact today are the ones that might lead you somewhere better tomorrow.
Your company is not going to build your career. You are.
If you are going through one of these processes right now, start with those three steps. Identify what you can control. Face the worst scenario on paper. Put yourself first.
And if you have lived through a merger or acquisition and came out the other side, I want to hear your story. What did you do? What would you do differently? Hit reply and tell me.
The more we share these experiences, the less alone the next person feels when that email hits their inbox.
Talk soon,
Oscar S.