Any doubts Netscape manager Christopher Tolles had about his company's purchase by America Online were wiped out when AOL offered him and his colleagues an extra month's pay as a bonus if they stick around.
"I was like, 'Oh cool, they're serious about this,' " said Tolles, 30, taking a break from his cubicle Tuesday at Netscape's sprawling Silicon Valley campus.Tolles was among Netscape's 2,300 employees who met Monday with corporate leaders to discuss AOL's $4.3 billion takeover of Netscape, and a separate deal with Sun Microsystems Inc.
Steve Case, the chairman of America Online Inc., sought to assure employees of Netscape Communications Corp. that the Internet innovator will remain "a cool company" where dogs can sit at their owners' desks and roller hockey is the norm at lunch hour in the parking lot.
But Case also acknowledged that corporate talent-hunters have their eye on Netscape's headquarters, and he said incentives to remain are both financial and cultural.
"Maybe you joined the company because it was a cool company," he said. "We are not changing any of that. We want to run this as an independent culture."
Case's talk, and speeches by Jim Barksdale of Netscape and Scott McNealy of Sun were interrupted several times by cheers from the audience.
"We need to maintain our spirit of arrogance, our esprit de corps, if you will," Tolles said.
John Davis, a New York-based headhunter who places chief information officers in high technology positions, agreed that Netscape "is a prime target to get some talent."
Davis said it's also a good time for Netscape employees to be "shaking out resumes."
"Anybody with half a brain to his credit would certainly entertain outside prospects right now," he said.
But Netscape group product manager Kevin Tsurutome, 30, of San Francisco, said Tuesday that his resumes are staying in the drawer.
"This merger gives us more credibility," he said. "I'm happy to be a part of this."
As for Tolles, who became a Netscape employee just two weeks ago when his start-up company "Newhoo" was bought out, he said he's more excited than ever about his position.
"This merger didn't exactly rock my world," he said. "It's just another step."