Buying equity does not buy people.
People choose to stay.

In many acquisitions, goodwill represents the expectation that earnings will continue — supported by the same people, relationships, and knowledge that created them in the first place.

When buyers assume key employees will remain without asking, without listening, and without securing alignment, they don’t just risk culture.

They risk value.

Leadership failures during integration aren’t “soft issues.”
They directly affect continuity, risk, and earnings reliability.

When key people walk, goodwill follows — not out of spite, but because the economic engine left with them.

The valuation didn’t fail.
The diligence did.
And the leadership response confirmed it.

Value isn’t owned. It’s sustained.