创业与商业vice.com
Sierra 的覆灭：一场会计造假引发的收购与死亡
Sierra was captured, then killed, by an accounting fraud
2020 — 2024，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
Vice 回顾了经典游戏公司 Sierra Online 的结局：创始人 Ken 和 Roberta Williams 把公司卖给 CUC International 后，CUC 被揭出大规模会计造假，随后与 HFS 合并成 Cendant，丑闻曝光、股价崩盘，Sierra 也在接连易主中被掏空、最终关闭。文章讲的是这场并购如何一步步毁掉一家传奇游戏发行商。
为什么经久不衰：它把一起著名财务造假案与一代玩家的共同记忆连在一起，也提醒人们：审计背书和华尔街的乐观，可能掩盖着一家公司的彻底腐烂。
HN 评论精选
亲历者：Sierra 创始人本身很好，但被 CUC/Cendant/Vivendi 接连收购后公司文化彻底崩坏。
我所在的游戏工作室 1995 年底被 Sierra 收购。被 Ken 和 Roberta 收购的感觉很不真实——他们是我童年游戏时代的偶像，而给他们干活（隔着好几层老板）也真的如你所愿那么好。他们是玩家，关心人们玩得开不开心；但对自己的开发团队能否做出达到这个目标的产品，他们也毫不含糊。我记得有次开会得当面回答 Ken，我打算怎么让我的游戏上市。他既坚定又公正，只是不喜欢我对进度和任务拆分的含糊其辞。（他来我们工作室是例行拜访，不是专门来骂我延期，但他说得没错：我的准备和计划确实不够用心。）此后在 Sierra 的每一步对员工都是噩梦：CUC、Cendant、Vivendi，可能还有别的环节，我 1997 年春受够了辞职。我们有一批极有才华、极有热情的美术（2D 和 3D），结果很多工作被外包到国外，交给一些看起来从没见过美国赛车比赛的人。有几位员工因股票期权的处理方式起诉，我没加入（虽然可能该加入，我觉得我们确实被坑了）。在我看来，收购方就是把房间里的乐趣全抽走了，很多有才华的开发者和制作人……
sokoloff查看英文原文
I worked for a game studio that was acquired by Sierra in late 1995. Being acquired by Ken and Roberta was surreal; they were two of my idols from childhood gaming and they were every bit as great to work for (via multiple layers of bosses) as you'd hope. They were gamers; they cared about people having fun playing games. They were also hard-nosed about their development teams creating product that would achieve that goal. I remember having to answer to Ken in person in a meeting about what my plan was to get my title shipped. He was firm and fair, but he didn't like my hand-waving at the schedule and task-breakdown. (He'd come to visit our studio in general, not to ream me out about shipping late, but he was spot on that I'd not been diligent enough in my prep and planning. We didn’t call it that, but my burndown chart was not tilted downward.) Every step along the rest of the journey with Sierra was a nightmare for employees. CUC, Cendant, Vivendi, and maybe there was another link in the chain, but I got fed up and quit in spring of 1997. We had incredibly talented and passionate artists (2D and 3D) and along the way a lot of that got shipped out of country to artists who seem to have never seen an American auto race. Several employees sued over shenanigans with our stock options treatment; I didn't join in (though perhaps I should have as I think we were getting screwed). IMO, the acquirers just sucked all the fun out of the room and a lot of talented devs and producers left. If you're not having fun working in computer gaming, you might as well go not have fun someplace that pays well. Ken and Roberta are two of the good ones in my book. 0 - Papyrus Design [IndyCar and NASCAR Racing]
批评审计机构安永：CUC 与 WeWork 都由它审计，却都出了大问题。
又是安永！任何同时出现 CUC 和 WeWork 的记录都说明烂到了根子上。文章讲的事情之后不久，五大就变成了四大。法院为什么不把安永弄死？
jessaustin查看英文原文
E&Y strike again! Any record that includes both CUC and WeWork betrays a deep rot. The Big 5 became the Big 4, not too long after the events of TFA. Why shouldn't E&Y be killed by the courts? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24802741
补充资料：Ken Williams 本人在 Reddit 讨论帖中现身评论。
Reddit /r/Games 上关于这件事的讨论很有意思，Ken 本人就在里面留言。
LawnGnome查看英文原文
The /r/Games thread on this is interesting, as Ken himself is commenting on it: https://old.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/jkbg4g/how_sierra_was_captured_then_killed_by_a_massive/
引用原文关键段落：安永的背书让 Sierra 接受了以股票支付的收购，并链接到另一篇关于安永的报道。
“如果他们真去查，只会得到确认：CUC 是一家健康、有冲劲、受华尔街喜爱的初创公司。CUC 不让 Sierra 看内部财务数据，但四大会计师事务所之一的安永保证账目不仅清楚，还显示这家公司富得流油，以至于收购 Sierra 不用现金，而是用它自己的股份。”两周前 WSJ 和 HN 上还有一篇：《崩盘的公司都有一个共同点：安永审计的》。
TT3351查看英文原文
"Had they done so, they’d have found only confirmation that CUC was a healthy, hungry start-up well-liked by Wall Street. While CUC wouldn’t let Sierra see its internal financial data, it did have assurances from the Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young that the books were not just in order but reflected a company so fabulously wealthy that it could pay for Sierra not with cash, but pieces of itself." 2 weeks ago on WSJ & HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24802741 "Firms That Imploded Have Something in Common: Ernst and Young Audited Them"
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