The telecommunications company, Dynacom, is CEO Wilson McCann’s only love. He has sacrificed everything to lead it to success in an industry that is undergoing deep change while shrinking through aggressive acquisitions by rival companies. Dynacom’s competitor, Legent, moves to acquire his company and McCann works to save it. Despite his efforts and those of his friends on Wall Street, Dynacom is acquired. A bitterly disillusioned McCann has lost his position and his perks. Hounded by the media, he rescues his dead uncle’s debt-ridden farm from foreclosure and returns to the Michigan town where he spent his youthful summers.
In his search for a new purpose in his life, he meets three women from his past who want to be part of his future. Donna, who gave herself to him in the past and has given herself to Christ now. Sally, the thrice married, twice divorced mother of three and Cindy, the Wall Street investment banker who is the key to financing a new acquisition. Each has a decidedly different objective. Past associates seek to draw him back into the telecommunications industry while new friends encourage him to find God’s plan for his life.
When McCann becomes involved in a plan to acquire parts of his old company in an acquisition that could propel him back to a position of leadership, mysterious activities by Michigan’s Governor may turn the acquisition into a disaster. As he seeks to regain what he has lost, McCann faces a series of tragedies that drive him to his knees. He makes his greatest acquisition and the opportunities for his future collide with the results of his past.
Acquisition is a provocative story of one man’s search for meaning in life amidst the fast-paced world of telecommunications acquisitions filled with a tapestry of colorful characters from a small Michigan farming community and the financial centers of the country.
WHY I WROTE “ACQUISITION”
By Bob Zinnecker
I wrote in the hope that this fictional story about a driven
executive’s search for a more meaningful life could help others
find a new purpose for their life through faith in Jesus Christ.
As a telecommunications executive for 50 years, I found that
anything I accomplished was due to arranging my priorities
around my faith, my family and the company I worked for.
Wilson McCann, the main character in Acquisition hasn’t done
that. Now his company is gone and he is searching for a new
focus. He moves to a small town in Michigan, similar to the
one I grew up in and populated with characters similar to
those I knew. Once there, he finds himself being drawn in
different directions by people from his past, including Wall
Street movers and shakers, politicians and corporate wheeler
dealers. He also meets new friends and associates whose
priorities are different than his. All of us resist change and
McCann is no different. He continues to resist a growing
awareness that he needs a new faith until a series of losses
literally drive him to his knees.
The telecommunications industry has changed significantly in
the past 50 years. It has transitioned from a regulated
monopoly to a competitive industry. The impact of cellular
technology, the application of fiber optics for greater
bandwidth and the Internet has made many question the
viability of the traditional wire line network. Companies who
made significant acquisitions during the last 30 years of the
20th century have now begun to shed portions of their
operations or have become acquisition victims themselves.
That is the world that Wilson McCann lives in and he
understands both the past and the future of his industry very
well. But, he doesn’t understand how to focus on something
other than that industry or how to build meaningful
relationships outside of it. Most of all, there is no room for God
in his life.
McCann, like many of us, is faced with a significant decision
in his life. He must determine what acquisition is the most
important one that a man can make. As he confronts the
direction of his life, he finds that there are new opportunities
awaiting him in the future but that they will collide with the
results of his past in ways he never imagined.
I hope that you will enjoy reading Acquisition as much as I
have enjoyed writing it. I hope that it will change your life in
ways you have never dreamed of. The Old Testament
Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah said that God has not forgotten
us and that God does have a plan for our lives. Take those
promises to heart. May God richly bless you.
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