Acxiom's future.

CORPORATE STRATEGY ACTIVITY on Riverfront Drive in Little Rock's Riverdale area is in high gear.

With 5,800 central Arkansas jobs at stake, not to mention the future of the state's two most prominent technology companies, I can't overstate how critical those strategic decisions are.

Of course I'm talking about Alltel Corp. and Acxiom Corp., whose headquarters are a stone's throw from each other.

We've been focused on Alltel because of multiple developments--a Wall Street Journal report about private equity firms circling the company, cancelled appearances at analyst conferences and little comment during the annual stockholders' meeting.

Then suddenly Acxiom announces it has reached a definitive agreement to sell to a 50-50 venture between private equity firms Silver Lake and ValueAct Capital in a $3 billion deal. It certainly wasn't shocking news, but it definitely caught a lot of people off guard because we thought CEO Charles Morgan and ValueAct's Jeffrey Ubben had reached a truce once Ubben was given two board seats. It was interesting that the news coincided with an awful fourth-quarter earnings report.

Selling to private equity firms is the best possible scenario for Arkansas and company employees if sales are truly the best strategy for shareholders of Acxiom and Alltel. Company headquarters and management stay in Little Rock, and so does the accompanying infrastructure.

With Acxiom's pending sale and the likelihood of Alltel's as well, one issue we will all have to come to terms with is less information about the companies. They won't face requirements to disclose much of anything, from earnings to personnel changes. At the same time, private companies that don't have the pressures of meeting short-term demands of shareholders and analysts through quarterly earnings reports can focus on long-term strategies that build the most value and profits for the owners.

Acxiom's Morgan downplayed potential changes, from his management to layoffs. I can't imagine he's really in a position to make definitive decisions in that regard. Ubben and his investors would have the power to make sweeping management changes if they thought it was time for a new leadership team. You have to wonder if Morgan still has the fire to deal with and answer to the private equity honchos.

Surely we wouldn't continue to see annual company "reorganizations" that have become the norm for Acxiom.

The best news is that Ubben has repeatedly expressed strong sentiment for Acxiom's products and performance potential. We could see new energy and growth transformation that would give Arkansas an even stronger company and ultimately more employees.

Overall, we're in for a rocky year with Acxiom and Alltel until the dust settles. We have to hope for the best possible outcomes for the Arkansas economy.