Depends on the company. We were acquired by a publicly traded company, and there are certain things companies can’t do right before they report earnings. So the public announcement wasn’t that we were being acquired but that the acquiring company had signed a merger deal with the intent to acquire us and that it would close on a specific date, which was roughly 3 weeks in the future.

For us the order of events were:

- One month of technical due diligence, one month of business/legal due diligence. Very few people in the company being acquired were involved.

- A final week of paperwork, legal going back-and-forth on the actual terms of the merger and planning the announcement.

- signed merger agreement

- The very next day held a company all hands to tell everyone the deal had been done. High-level leaders at the acquiring Company were there to answer questions. Lots of very very very happy people, champagne toasts, etc.

- very next day after that, public announcement of merger press releases etc. “close date” was roughly 3 weeks in the future.

- until the close date we weren’t officially employees of the new company, because the merger hadn’t officially closed. We went about our business

- Close date happened. On that day previous company ceases to exist and we are all new employees of the acquiring company. Wire transfer Happened that day for the equity. Permit for the stock options buyout happened about a week and a half later as part of our pay period.