It will not go down in business history as one of the most consequential mergers or acquisitions of all time, but The New York Times’ acquisition of the extraordinarily popular word game, Wordle, has produced an avalanche of criticism and even threats to cancel subscriptions. There are lessons here for any organization acquiring a company with an engaged fan base, and even for companies planning to make changes to existing popular products.

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The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, March 21, 2022.

We are hosting a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Neville’s link blog, Outbox, is available, as well.

Links from this episode:

• Wordle Transition Provokes Discussion on Mergers and Acquisitions (PR News Online)
• My five-letter reaction to the New York Times taking over Wordle? I quit (The Guardian)
• Wordle clones have jumped the S_ARK (Engadget)
• Wordle fans call out ‘villain’ NY Times for ‘trolling millennials’ with hard words (New York Post)
• NY Times faces controversy after making changes to Wordle (CNN)
• Wordle Isn’t Getting Harder Because of The New York Times (C|Net)
• Quordle
• Worldle
• Lordle of the Rings
• Sweardle
• Lewdle

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