SDL was the largest language technology company in the world. Annual conferences people flew across continents to attend. A community where developers were required to read and respond to feedback. A culture people stayed in for decades. RWS bought it for a billion pounds. Then came three CEOs in four years, rolling layoffs that targeted SDL veterans first, and a sales compensation plan designed to fail.

The content technology division, which generates more profit from less than half the revenue, is quietly subsidizing the language side while its own products starve. Former employees are talking. Partners are leaving. The people who built Tridion, who closed million-dollar deals, who ran partner programs for years, are gone. They took their client relationships with them.