Layoffs in Wine Country

Following the takeover of Silicon Valley Bank by the FDIC on March 10th, I found myself needing to take a break from watching the news for several weeks. Our company had become the main subject of every news outlet, and unfortunately, it was for all the wrong reasons. The constant coverage of the "ugly news" was difficult and painful to endure. The experience only added to the already stressful situation for both employees and clients.

Now that things are back to normal in the wine division, we're happy to get a break from all the ugly news updates. It is starting to feel like we're settling into a new routine, but nothing lasts forever.

Will there be a Silicon Valley Bank DTC Report this year? It's looking doubtful.

Without greater participation this last week, there will be no SVB Direct to Consumer Report produced this year.

It's always difficult to get survey participants. This year the effort had a higher degree of difficulty because the bank failed. I'm sure you heard that news. 

Three weeks later though, we were purchased by First Citizens Bank, and we are today operating as Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank. 

During that dark period when we were being run by the FDIC, we literally had hundreds of people encouraging us to find a way to continue producing the gratis information we've done for more than 20 years. Because of that encouragement, with the ownership question behind, we decided to produce the Direct to Consumer survey and report, a month later than usual. It was the industry encouragement that was the deciding factor. 

The SVB 2023 Direct to Consumer Wine Survey is Open!

For those following closely, you will notice that I've changed the headline slide back from Rob McMillan on Wine, to the prior blog title of, SVB on Wine.

For most, hopefully it's obvious why I've done that. But for those who haven't followed the rollercoaster, SVB was taken over by the FDIC on March 10th. That was the end of the old SVB. 

But after a couple failed auctions, most of the legacy bank's assets were sold to First Citizens Bank, who decided to run the acquired bank as a division, and retain the name of Silicon Valley Bank. So we died and have been reborn!