For me specifically Siemens divesting or spinning-off its semiconductor assets. Before that my study program was almost a free ticket into Siemens. Working for Infineon, EPCOS or (a little later) Qimonda did not seem attractive to me, specifically because it was well known at the time that these divisions were spun-off because Siemens wanted to reduce the risk from the quote "highly volatile semiconductor business" for the parent company.

MBAs, investors, and stock market ruining stuff again...