It's just the boss trying to earn his pay ... by doing what his boss tells him, which is his job.

You can tell when a sale is in the offing, often enough, as the boss will dispose of talented but "underqualified" (meaning short on credentials, not necessarily on ability) help and replace them with employees with sterling credentials but perhaps questionable work history. Those will "look good" for any prospective buyer, yet won't cost a fortune, and won't be hard to replace if they are troublesome or totally useless. This is good for the ones who leave first, as they don't have as many people with whom they must compete for new employment.

A large proportion of new businesses are started just for the purpose of being sold once running, and, hopefully, while the still have some "blue sky."

It pays to take note when the HR person(s)start(s) snooping around.

RE