Blackmoor Vituperative

For 37 years, Science Applications International Corp. has been owned by its employees. In that time, the company has grown from nothing to an $8 billion giant that does some of the government’s most sensitive work in intelligence, homeland security and defense.

But within days, those employees — 43,100 of them, more than a third of whom live in the Washington area — will have to learn to share their company with people who have never before had the chance to own SAIC stock: members of the public.

SAIC shares could begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange as soon as tomorrow in an initial public offering estimated to be worth $1 billion, which would be among the largest IPOs ever in the defense industry.

(from WashingtonPost.com, Filings Illuminate IPO’s Bumpy Ride)

It’s about time. I have a small amount of SAIC stock (I worked for them from 2002 through 2005), and this IPO has taken forever. I am really glad that they have professionals handling the stock program now. When I was there, it was handled in-house by Bull, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIC), and I had more than a few problems with them. As much as I took pride in being a SAIC employee-owner (and I would still be one if my management had permitted me to accept a job offer I received from a different SAIC division), I think it will be a good thing for SAIC to go public. I think it will make them more accountable and force them to make better business decisions, particularly in these post-Sarbanes-Oxley days.

I could be wrong, but that’s what I think.