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jps December 3rd 12 10:07 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 

$125,000 a month.

The acting CEO of Hostess Brands, the failed Twinkies-maker, will not
take part in a company-wide pay cut.

Though he imposed an 8 percent pay cut for all Hostess workers,
Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --
will remain unchanged, a company spokesman told The Huffington Post on
Monday. Rayburn is not on the Hostess payroll and therefore isn't
subject to the imposed pay cut, the spokesman explained.

Hostess appointed Rayburn, founder and owner of Kobi Partners, a
restructuring advisory firm, as acting CEO in March, two months after
the company filed for bankruptcy a second time.

Hostess' liquidation plan was approved last month, as were $1.8
million in bonuses for executives. Rayburn is "not eligible to receive
any bonuses, success fees, or severance," according to the spokesman.

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.

amdx December 3rd 12 11:51 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:



Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.

1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
Mikek

jps December 4th 12 04:13 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:51:14 -0600, amdx
wrote:

On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:



Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.

1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
Mikek


That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit? The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.

Don't blame the unions for not wanting to commit their people to
poverty so owners can make enough.

BAR[_2_] December 4th 12 12:28 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
In article ,
says...

On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:51:14 -0600, amdx
wrote:

On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:



Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.

1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
Mikek


That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.


How often do you make bad decisions as the CEO of your company?

What is your pay compared to your employees pay?

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit? The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.


The operating performance of Hostess is horrible at $138,000. It should
be somewhere up above $200,000 or more.

Don't blame the unions for not wanting to commit their people to
poverty so owners can make enough.


Is your company unionized? Why?

*e#c December 4th 12 05:45 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On Dec 4, 7:28*am, BAR wrote:
In article ,
says...







On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:51:14 -0600, amdx
wrote:


On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:


Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --


The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.


1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
* * * * * * * * * Mikek


That's a sum total of 1 decision. *How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? *Hundreds.


How often do you make bad decisions as the CEO of your company?

What is your pay compared to your employees pay?

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit? *The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.


The operating performance of Hostess is horrible at $138,000. It should
be somewhere up above $200,000 or more.

Don't blame the unions for not wanting to commit their people to
poverty so owners can make enough.


Is your company unionized? Why?


Unions didnt cause this.......

amdx[_2_] December 4th 12 06:06 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On 12/3/2012 10:13 PM, jps wrote:
On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:51:14 -0600, amdx
wrote:

On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:



Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.

1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
Mikek


That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit?

High gross revenue does not make a business profitable.

The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.


Ahh, the business is worth more in parts to the current owners than
the profit from business operations?
The logical thing is to break up the parts.
If you have a benevolent feeling with your money,
Invest in the infrastruction a business needs, hire people,
and payout all profits. You might wonder what those employees will do
when the economy turns down and you don't have the same profits and then
you must cut there pay. Oh, I forgot you don't paying them with your money.
Mikek
Mikek


Califbill December 4th 12 07:14 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
jps wrote:
$125,000 a month.

The acting CEO of Hostess Brands, the failed Twinkies-maker, will not
take part in a company-wide pay cut.

Though he imposed an 8 percent pay cut for all Hostess workers,
Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --
will remain unchanged, a company spokesman told The Huffington Post on
Monday. Rayburn is not on the Hostess payroll and therefore isn't
subject to the imposed pay cut, the spokesman explained.

Hostess appointed Rayburn, founder and owner of Kobi Partners, a
restructuring advisory firm, as acting CEO in March, two months after
the company filed for bankruptcy a second time.

Hostess' liquidation plan was approved last month, as were $1.8
million in bonuses for executives. Rayburn is "not eligible to receive
any bonuses, success fees, or severance," according to the spokesman.

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.


He was hired at that fee to restructure the company. So he earns the
money. Hostess main problem was a very expensive distribution network.
The drivers could not load a truck among other items of overhead.

jps December 4th 12 10:14 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:14:17 -0600, Califbill
wrote:

jps wrote:
$125,000 a month.

The acting CEO of Hostess Brands, the failed Twinkies-maker, will not
take part in a company-wide pay cut.

Though he imposed an 8 percent pay cut for all Hostess workers,
Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --
will remain unchanged, a company spokesman told The Huffington Post on
Monday. Rayburn is not on the Hostess payroll and therefore isn't
subject to the imposed pay cut, the spokesman explained.

Hostess appointed Rayburn, founder and owner of Kobi Partners, a
restructuring advisory firm, as acting CEO in March, two months after
the company filed for bankruptcy a second time.

Hostess' liquidation plan was approved last month, as were $1.8
million in bonuses for executives. Rayburn is "not eligible to receive
any bonuses, success fees, or severance," according to the spokesman.

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.


He was hired at that fee to restructure the company. So he earns the
money. Hostess main problem was a very expensive distribution network.
The drivers could not load a truck among other items of overhead.


He's part of the vulture capital firm that took over. Not enough that
these guys will reap large rewards for parting out a viable business
(save for their stupid decisions), they need to take exhorbitant fees
too.

That's how Bain Capital made their money too. Scum.

jps December 4th 12 10:15 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:06:15 -0600, amdx wrote:

On 12/3/2012 10:13 PM, jps wrote:
On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:51:14 -0600, amdx
wrote:

On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:



Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.

1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
Mikek


That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit?

High gross revenue does not make a business profitable.

The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.


Ahh, the business is worth more in parts to the current owners than
the profit from business operations?
The logical thing is to break up the parts.
If you have a benevolent feeling with your money,
Invest in the infrastruction a business needs, hire people,
and payout all profits. You might wonder what those employees will do
when the economy turns down and you don't have the same profits and then
you must cut there pay. Oh, I forgot you don't paying them with your money.
Mikek
Mikek


$2.5 billion in annual sales and you can't find a way to make it work?

Baloney.

JustWait[_2_] December 4th 12 10:18 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On 12/4/2012 12:45 PM, *e#c wrote:
On Dec 4, 7:28 am, BAR wrote:
In article ,
says...







On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:51:14 -0600, amdx
wrote:


On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:


Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --


The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.


1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
Mikek


That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.


How often do you make bad decisions as the CEO of your company?

What is your pay compared to your employees pay?

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit? The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.


The operating performance of Hostess is horrible at $138,000. It should
be somewhere up above $200,000 or more.

Don't blame the unions for not wanting to commit their people to
poverty so owners can make enough.


Is your company unionized? Why?


Unions didnt cause this.......


You are right, the unions wanted to go along with it, it was the 3,000
greedy union "brothers" who ****ed the other 15,000 down the river..
Same way it happened at Finast, the top ten percent wage earners, ****
the rest for a few more bucks...

harry (not the original) December 4th 12 10:29 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
JustWait wrote:
On 12/4/2012 12:45 PM, *e#c wrote:
On Dec 4, 7:28 am, BAR wrote:
In article ,
says...







On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:51:14 -0600, amdx
wrote:

On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:

Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.

1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
Mikek

That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.

How often do you make bad decisions as the CEO of your company?

What is your pay compared to your employees pay?

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit? The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.

The operating performance of Hostess is horrible at $138,000. It should
be somewhere up above $200,000 or more.

Don't blame the unions for not wanting to commit their people to
poverty so owners can make enough.

Is your company unionized? Why?


Unions didnt cause this.......


You are right, the unions wanted to go along with it, it was the 3,000
greedy union "brothers" who ****ed the other 15,000 down the river.. Same
way it happened at Finast, the top ten percent wage earners, **** the
rest for a few more bucks...


Your comments about the demise of Finast are bull****.
--
Save the rec.boats Twinkies!

Eisboch[_8_] December 4th 12 11:41 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 


"jps" wrote in message
...


That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit? The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.

Don't blame the unions for not wanting to commit their people to
poverty so owners can make enough.

---------------------------------------

Sounds to me like management made the right decision if the goodwill
of the company is worth more than profits .... especially if there
aren't any.
Your mileage may vary if you think that the sole purpose of a business
is to provide jobs.

The bonuses to management and salaries of the hired "turnaround" guy
are peanuts when compared to the overall debt and are very commonplace
in Chapter 7 situations like this. The bankruptcy judge approved
them for reason. The simplistic views of bystanders are
understandable but don't reflect reality.



amdx December 5th 12 02:07 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 


He was hired at that fee to restructure the company. So he earns the
money. Hostess main problem was a very expensive distribution network.
The drivers could not load a truck among other items of overhead.


He's part of the vulture capital firm that took over. Not enough that
these guys will reap large rewards for parting out a viable business
(save for their stupid decisions), they need to take exorbitant fees
too.


Hey, it's so easy to start and run a business, why don't you do it.
Oh, and get the union involved from the start, that way you will know
all the union rules. And don't question a rule just cause it looks
unproductive, it adds union jobs.
Mikek

jps December 5th 12 10:10 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 18:41:32 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:



"jps" wrote in message
.. .


That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit? The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.

Don't blame the unions for not wanting to commit their people to
poverty so owners can make enough.

---------------------------------------

Sounds to me like management made the right decision if the goodwill
of the company is worth more than profits .... especially if there
aren't any.
Your mileage may vary if you think that the sole purpose of a business
is to provide jobs.

The bonuses to management and salaries of the hired "turnaround" guy
are peanuts when compared to the overall debt and are very commonplace
in Chapter 7 situations like this. The bankruptcy judge approved
them for reason. The simplistic views of bystanders are
understandable but don't reflect reality.


Except the "turnaround" guy is part of the vulture capital group. Just
another way to suck the bones dry whilst they're screwing the
employees out of their pensions and whatever else they can grab.

Who's to say your idea that it's far more complex isn't just another
view of a "bystander" who doesn't understand how awfully simple it all
is?

jps December 5th 12 10:14 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 

On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:07:13 -0600, amdx
wrote:



He was hired at that fee to restructure the company. So he earns the
money. Hostess main problem was a very expensive distribution network.
The drivers could not load a truck among other items of overhead.


He's part of the vulture capital firm that took over. Not enough that
these guys will reap large rewards for parting out a viable business
(save for their stupid decisions), they need to take exorbitant fees
too.


Hey, it's so easy to start and run a business, why don't you do it.
Oh, and get the union involved from the start, that way you will know
all the union rules. And don't question a rule just cause it looks
unproductive, it adds union jobs.
Mikek


I did start and do run a business that's more than 20 years old. I
pay far more than union wages, plus a compensation package that
includes health care benefits at exhorbitant expense.

Time to reign in some of these assholes who run companies dry. I'm
not talking about the tax man, I'm talking about the health care
industry, the most profitable industry in the US.

Can't wait for the state run markets to pull it together. I've been
paying between 10 and 15% increases every year for the past 15 years.
This year is the smallest increase ever, 6.5%. About ****ing time.

amdx December 5th 12 12:33 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On 12/5/2012 4:14 AM, jps wrote:

On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:07:13 -0600, amdx
wrote:



He was hired at that fee to restructure the company. So he earns the
money. Hostess main problem was a very expensive distribution network.
The drivers could not load a truck among other items of overhead.

He's part of the vulture capital firm that took over. Not enough that
these guys will reap large rewards for parting out a viable business
(save for their stupid decisions), they need to take exorbitant fees
too.


Hey, it's so easy to start and run a business, why don't you do it.
Oh, and get the union involved from the start, that way you will know
all the union rules. And don't question a rule just cause it looks
unproductive, it adds union jobs.
Mikek


I did start and do run a business that's more than 20 years old. I
pay far more than union wages, plus a compensation package that
includes health care benefits at exhorbitant expense.

Time to reign in some of these assholes who run companies dry. I'm
not talking about the tax man, I'm talking about the health care
industry, the most profitable industry in the US.

Can't wait for the state run markets to pull it together. I've been
paying between 10 and 15% increases every year for the past 15 years.
This year is the smallest increase ever, 6.5%. About ****ing time.


Overcharging your customers? Hmm...
Greedy!
Mikek

BAR[_2_] December 5th 12 12:50 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
In article ,
says...

On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:06:15 -0600, amdx wrote:

On 12/3/2012 10:13 PM, jps wrote:
On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:51:14 -0600, amdx
wrote:

On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:



Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.

1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
Mikek

That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit?

High gross revenue does not make a business profitable.

The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.


Ahh, the business is worth more in parts to the current owners than
the profit from business operations?
The logical thing is to break up the parts.
If you have a benevolent feeling with your money,
Invest in the infrastruction a business needs, hire people,
and payout all profits. You might wonder what those employees will do
when the economy turns down and you don't have the same profits and then
you must cut there pay. Oh, I forgot you don't paying them with your money.
Mikek
Mikek


$2.5 billion in annual sales and you can't find a way to make it work?

Baloney.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_concern



Eisboch[_8_] December 5th 12 01:36 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole (long)
 


"jps" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 18:41:32 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


The bonuses to management and salaries of the hired "turnaround" guy
are peanuts when compared to the overall debt and are very
commonplace
in Chapter 7 situations like this. The bankruptcy judge approved
them for reason. The simplistic views of bystanders are
understandable but don't reflect reality.


Except the "turnaround" guy is part of the vulture capital group. Just
another way to suck the bones dry whilst they're screwing the
employees out of their pensions and whatever else they can grab.

Who's to say your idea that it's far more complex isn't just another
view of a "bystander" who doesn't understand how awfully simple it all
is?
-------------------------------------------------------

I am not an expert on the subject but I've had some direct experience.
I was a principle (small, 5% stockholder and employee) in a company
that had venture capital, bank and private (me included) financing.
The company did ok for several years but started coming apart
financially in 1986 due to Congress debating tax reforms for over a
year. Orders for equipment were put on hold and some orders were
cancelled because the customers (primarily large commercial and
defense contractors) didn't know how the tax reform debate would
affect their bottom lines. Very similar to what's going on today.

I witnessed up front and personal as the venture capital group
installed a turn around specialist in the company with all the best of
intentions.
I can tell you that they view the company strictly through financial
eyes and not from any sense of loyalty to employees or consideration
to their families. They have a hard core attitude that is at odds
with the company's management who typically have some emotions
involved and have no desire to lay people off. The turn around guy,
along with management, has to determine which employees are absolutely
necessary for jobs in progress and for company value for a potential
sale or further investment. It's not a pleasant experience, but it
is necessary. He was doing his job. It tore me apart.

In the end, the bank called the note owed to them and the company went
into involuntary bankruptcy. The primary principle, CEO and president
knew it was coming and skipped town a few weeks before, "on vacation".
He was seriously affected and in a state of acute depression. I
happened to be second in command in the owner's absence and tried
unsuccessfully to contact him when employee's paychecks started
bouncing. I called the bank and learned that all the company's
accounts were frozen. I then called the company's attorneys and was
advised to immediately lay off *all* remaining employees which was not
exactly a wonderful experience. Ultimately, the company was sold in
an "arranged" auction by the bankruptcy court.

That's is the *simplified* version of what happened in this example.
Obviously, there were many more details and gut retching issues during
this horrible experience. I left that company immediately after the
sale and worked as a consultant to a major defense contractor to make
ends meet.
I was then 37 years old.

There was a personal benefit derived from it however. A few years
later, when I started my own company, I swore to never make the
mistakes that I witnessed during this experience. I've mentioned
the company from time to time here in the newsgroup but have never
told the whole story. As a business owner, you may find it
interesting, so here goes:

In January of 1990, I incorporated the company. Like the one that
went bankrupt in 1988, it designed and built high tech capital
equipment for commercial and military applications. Initially the
company consisted of me, my wife (receptionist and book keeper) and a
friend from the previous company. We did all the engineering and
design and subcontracted all the fabrication, machining and heavy
construction. We did the control systems in-house and the final
assembly and test.

The only funding was my personal savings of approximately $25,000. We
secured a couple of small contracts from people we knew from the
previous company. I will always be grateful for their support and
confidence that they exhibited at the time. Bigger contracts came
along in short order. These are large dollar value items and they
are typically paid on a "progress payment schedule" that consisted of
several payments over the period of the contract, based on achievement
of specified milestones. I managed the finances essentially by having
the customers finance their own projects.

I never had a bank line of credit or loan and I never borrowed any
money from anyone. We added equipment when we could to do almost all
the fabrication in-house, paid for out of profit, not loans. I also
sought and brought into the company several highly qualified people in
engineering, finance and manufacturing disiplines, giving them all a
stock position as well as a salary.

By the end of 1999, the company had grown to about 70 employees with
revenues of about $17M annually. It came up on the radar screen of
some bigger companies and two of them ended up making formal offers to
acquire it in late 2000.

At the time the physical assets of the company (meaning manufacturing
equipment, engineering equipment, test equipment, etc.) probably
totaled about $500K in value. The rest of the value of the company
was in intellectual property and goodwill.

One of the two companies offered a deal whereby the stockholders in my
company would receive stock in the their company.
My company would become a division of theirs, building equipment only
for them.

The other company offered cash. They wanted to expand the company
with further investments and market our equipment to the industry in
general.

Now, I may be uneducated in the ways of business and finance, but I am
not a complete idiot. The company had grown to a point where it
needed the expertise and resources of a larger organization for
continued growth. At this point I still owned 67% of the company and
it was getting more complicated to run. I knew my limits.

So, the company was acquired for a little over $21 million in cash.
The due diligence lasted only about 3 months before closing and every
day that I got up I couldn't believe it was all really happening. We
had no debt, no bank loans and no venture capitalists to pay off.
The proceeds went to the stockholders.

At the time of closing, and after all the adjustments were made for
work in progress, etc., the company had $1.5M in the bank, which we
would retain.

A week before the closing, I called a meeting of all the stockholders
and proposed an employee bonus plan, using this money.
It was unanimously agreed to.

The day after the closing, I called a meeting of all the employees.
My wife had made out checks to everyone. It basically came down to
$1,000 for every month or part of a month that the employee had worked
for the company. Several had been with the company for 10 years.
The average was about 6 years. Some received over $120,000. A couple
had just joined the company, but still received at least $1,000.

That day was one of the most satisfying day of my life. Several
people received enough money to pay off their home mortgages. Others
now had the money to buy their first house. It was funny as hell to
watch the reaction when I announced the bonus formula. You could see
people mentally adding up the number of months they had been employed
as I explained how it would work. Meanwhile, my wife was walking
around handing out envelopes with the checks in them to all the
employees. Great day.

As for me, part of the acquisition deal included a three year
"consulting" agreement and non-compete clause. They didn't have to
worry. To this day I have no regrets and absolutely no interest in
getting involved in that industry again.

The only reason I started the goofy guitar shop thing is because I was
starting to drive my poor wife nuts, not having anything of importance
to do.
She's the one who, after looking at my modest collection of guitars,
amplifiers and Hammond B3 organ, suggested I open a "music shop".
I thought that would interesting and have been involved with it for
the past 3 and a half years. I realized however that I was never
designed or cut out to deal in a retail world, so I have turned the
shop over to a friend who is both a musician and a luthier. I stay
involved, more as a hobby and place to go, but he now owns and runs
the place. It too is growing and will be moving to a larger facility
early next year.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.





Meyer[_2_] December 5th 12 02:03 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole (long)
 
On 12/5/2012 8:36 AM, Eisboch wrote:


"jps" wrote in message ...

On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 18:41:32 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


The bonuses to management and salaries of the hired "turnaround" guy
are peanuts when compared to the overall debt and are very commonplace
in Chapter 7 situations like this. The bankruptcy judge approved
them for reason. The simplistic views of bystanders are
understandable but don't reflect reality.


Except the "turnaround" guy is part of the vulture capital group. Just
another way to suck the bones dry whilst they're screwing the
employees out of their pensions and whatever else they can grab.

Who's to say your idea that it's far more complex isn't just another
view of a "bystander" who doesn't understand how awfully simple it all
is?
-------------------------------------------------------

I am not an expert on the subject but I've had some direct experience. I
was a principle (small, 5% stockholder and employee) in a company that
had venture capital, bank and private (me included) financing. The
company did ok for several years but started coming apart financially in
1986 due to Congress debating tax reforms for over a year. Orders for
equipment were put on hold and some orders were cancelled because the
customers (primarily large commercial and defense contractors) didn't
know how the tax reform debate would affect their bottom lines. Very
similar to what's going on today.

I witnessed up front and personal as the venture capital group installed
a turn around specialist in the company with all the best of intentions.
I can tell you that they view the company strictly through financial
eyes and not from any sense of loyalty to employees or consideration to
their families. They have a hard core attitude that is at odds with the
company's management who typically have some emotions involved and have
no desire to lay people off. The turn around guy, along with
management, has to determine which employees are absolutely necessary
for jobs in progress and for company value for a potential sale or
further investment. It's not a pleasant experience, but it is
necessary. He was doing his job. It tore me apart.

In the end, the bank called the note owed to them and the company went
into involuntary bankruptcy. The primary principle, CEO and president
knew it was coming and skipped town a few weeks before, "on vacation".
He was seriously affected and in a state of acute depression. I
happened to be second in command in the owner's absence and tried
unsuccessfully to contact him when employee's paychecks started
bouncing. I called the bank and learned that all the company's accounts
were frozen. I then called the company's attorneys and was advised to
immediately lay off *all* remaining employees which was not exactly a
wonderful experience. Ultimately, the company was sold in an
"arranged" auction by the bankruptcy court.

That's is the *simplified* version of what happened in this example.
Obviously, there were many more details and gut retching issues during
this horrible experience. I left that company immediately after the
sale and worked as a consultant to a major defense contractor to make
ends meet.
I was then 37 years old.

There was a personal benefit derived from it however. A few years
later, when I started my own company, I swore to never make the
mistakes that I witnessed during this experience. I've mentioned the
company from time to time here in the newsgroup but have never told the
whole story. As a business owner, you may find it interesting, so
here goes:

In January of 1990, I incorporated the company. Like the one that went
bankrupt in 1988, it designed and built high tech capital equipment for
commercial and military applications. Initially the company consisted
of me, my wife (receptionist and book keeper) and a friend from the
previous company. We did all the engineering and design and
subcontracted all the fabrication, machining and heavy construction. We
did the control systems in-house and the final assembly and test.

The only funding was my personal savings of approximately $25,000. We
secured a couple of small contracts from people we knew from the
previous company. I will always be grateful for their support and
confidence that they exhibited at the time. Bigger contracts came along
in short order. These are large dollar value items and they are
typically paid on a "progress payment schedule" that consisted of
several payments over the period of the contract, based on achievement
of specified milestones. I managed the finances essentially by having
the customers finance their own projects.

I never had a bank line of credit or loan and I never borrowed any money
from anyone. We added equipment when we could to do almost all the
fabrication in-house, paid for out of profit, not loans. I also sought
and brought into the company several highly qualified people in
engineering, finance and manufacturing disiplines, giving them all a
stock position as well as a salary.

By the end of 1999, the company had grown to about 70 employees with
revenues of about $17M annually. It came up on the radar screen of some
bigger companies and two of them ended up making formal offers to
acquire it in late 2000.

At the time the physical assets of the company (meaning manufacturing
equipment, engineering equipment, test equipment, etc.) probably
totaled about $500K in value. The rest of the value of the company
was in intellectual property and goodwill.

One of the two companies offered a deal whereby the stockholders in my
company would receive stock in the their company.
My company would become a division of theirs, building equipment only
for them.

The other company offered cash. They wanted to expand the company with
further investments and market our equipment to the industry in general.

Now, I may be uneducated in the ways of business and finance, but I am
not a complete idiot. The company had grown to a point where it needed
the expertise and resources of a larger organization for continued
growth. At this point I still owned 67% of the company and it was
getting more complicated to run. I knew my limits.

So, the company was acquired for a little over $21 million in cash. The
due diligence lasted only about 3 months before closing and every day
that I got up I couldn't believe it was all really happening. We had
no debt, no bank loans and no venture capitalists to pay off. The
proceeds went to the stockholders.

At the time of closing, and after all the adjustments were made for work
in progress, etc., the company had $1.5M in the bank, which we would
retain.

A week before the closing, I called a meeting of all the stockholders
and proposed an employee bonus plan, using this money.
It was unanimously agreed to.

The day after the closing, I called a meeting of all the employees. My
wife had made out checks to everyone. It basically came down to $1,000
for every month or part of a month that the employee had worked for the
company. Several had been with the company for 10 years. The average
was about 6 years. Some received over $120,000. A couple had just
joined the company, but still received at least $1,000.

That day was one of the most satisfying day of my life. Several people
received enough money to pay off their home mortgages. Others now had
the money to buy their first house. It was funny as hell to watch the
reaction when I announced the bonus formula. You could see people
mentally adding up the number of months they had been employed as I
explained how it would work. Meanwhile, my wife was walking around
handing out envelopes with the checks in them to all the employees.
Great day.

As for me, part of the acquisition deal included a three year
"consulting" agreement and non-compete clause. They didn't have to
worry. To this day I have no regrets and absolutely no interest in
getting involved in that industry again.

The only reason I started the goofy guitar shop thing is because I was
starting to drive my poor wife nuts, not having anything of importance
to do.
She's the one who, after looking at my modest collection of guitars,
amplifiers and Hammond B3 organ, suggested I open a "music shop".
I thought that would interesting and have been involved with it for the
past 3 and a half years. I realized however that I was never designed
or cut out to deal in a retail world, so I have turned the shop over to
a friend who is both a musician and a luthier. I stay involved, more
as a hobby and place to go, but he now owns and runs the place. It too
is growing and will be moving to a larger facility early next year.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.




I suspect that JPS will be eating humble pie for breakfast.

Eisboch[_8_] December 5th 12 02:13 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole (long)
 


"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

jps:

BTW ... in case you are wondering ... yes, I paid somewhere around
37% in capital gains taxes.
Should have waited a few more years before selling. :-)








GuzzisRule December 5th 12 02:23 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:15:38 -0800, jps wrote:

On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:06:15 -0600, amdx wrote:

On 12/3/2012 10:13 PM, jps wrote:
On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:51:14 -0600, amdx
wrote:

On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:



Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.

1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
Mikek

That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit?

High gross revenue does not make a business profitable.

The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.


Ahh, the business is worth more in parts to the current owners than
the profit from business operations?
The logical thing is to break up the parts.
If you have a benevolent feeling with your money,
Invest in the infrastruction a business needs, hire people,
and payout all profits. You might wonder what those employees will do
when the economy turns down and you don't have the same profits and then
you must cut there pay. Oh, I forgot you don't paying them with your money.
Mikek
Mikek


$2.5 billion in annual sales and you can't find a way to make it work?

Baloney.


Easy. Reduce the exorbitant cost of union labor and bennies.

GuzzisRule December 5th 12 03:39 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:10:35 -0800, jps wrote:

On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 18:41:32 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:



"jps" wrote in message
. ..


That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit? The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.

Don't blame the unions for not wanting to commit their people to
poverty so owners can make enough.

---------------------------------------

Sounds to me like management made the right decision if the goodwill
of the company is worth more than profits .... especially if there
aren't any.
Your mileage may vary if you think that the sole purpose of a business
is to provide jobs.

The bonuses to management and salaries of the hired "turnaround" guy
are peanuts when compared to the overall debt and are very commonplace
in Chapter 7 situations like this. The bankruptcy judge approved
them for reason. The simplistic views of bystanders are
understandable but don't reflect reality.


Except the "turnaround" guy is part of the vulture capital group. Just
another way to suck the bones dry whilst they're screwing the
employees out of their pensions and whatever else they can grab.

Who's to say your idea that it's far more complex isn't just another
view of a "bystander" who doesn't understand how awfully simple it all
is?


Sure as hell not you.

iBoaterer[_2_] December 5th 12 03:49 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
In article , says...

On 12/4/2012 12:45 PM, *e#c wrote:
On Dec 4, 7:28 am, BAR wrote:
In article ,
says...







On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:51:14 -0600, amdx
wrote:

On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:

Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.

1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
Mikek

That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.

How often do you make bad decisions as the CEO of your company?

What is your pay compared to your employees pay?

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit? The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.

The operating performance of Hostess is horrible at $138,000. It should
be somewhere up above $200,000 or more.

Don't blame the unions for not wanting to commit their people to
poverty so owners can make enough.

Is your company unionized? Why?


Unions didnt cause this.......


You are right, the unions wanted to go along with it, it was the 3,000
greedy union "brothers" who ****ed the other 15,000 down the river..
Same way it happened at Finast, the top ten percent wage earners, ****
the rest for a few more bucks...


Moron....

http://tinyurl.com/brkkbgk


iBoaterer[_2_] December 5th 12 03:50 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
In article ,
says...


He was hired at that fee to restructure the company. So he earns the
money. Hostess main problem was a very expensive distribution network.
The drivers could not load a truck among other items of overhead.


He's part of the vulture capital firm that took over. Not enough that
these guys will reap large rewards for parting out a viable business
(save for their stupid decisions), they need to take exorbitant fees
too.


Hey, it's so easy to start and run a business, why don't you do it.
Oh, and get the union involved from the start, that way you will know
all the union rules. And don't question a rule just cause it looks
unproductive, it adds union jobs.
Mikek


http://tinyurl.com/brkkbgk

ESAD December 5th 12 04:04 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On 12/4/12 5:18 PM, JustWait wrote:



You are right, the unions wanted to go along with it, it was the 3,000
greedy union "brothers" who ****ed the other 15,000 down the river..
Same way it happened at Finast, the top ten percent wage earners, ****
the rest for a few more bucks...



The unions had nothing to do with the demise of First National, aka
Finast. The chain was the victim of bad management from the Pick-and-Pay
Ohio group that took it over and then by the European group - Royal
Ahold - that took it over in the late 1980's. The latter organization
had all sorts of investigations going on, some of which resulted in
heavy fines and jail sentences.

Bad management...really bad management, and nothing to do with "union
problems."








iBoaterer[_2_] December 5th 12 04:41 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
In article ,
says...

On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:15:38 -0800, jps wrote:

On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:06:15 -0600, amdx wrote:

On 12/3/2012 10:13 PM, jps wrote:
On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:51:14 -0600, amdx
wrote:

On 12/3/2012 4:07 PM, jps wrote:



Gregory Rayburn's monthly $125,000 pay -- or $1.5 million a year --

The company's shutdown will cause about 18,000 people to lose their
jobs.

1.5 million divided by 18,000 equals 4 cents per hr.
I don't think that's the problem!
Mikek

That's a sum total of 1 decision. How many hundreds of bad decisions
have management made to get in this position? Hundreds.

$2.5 billion in annual revenue but you can't figure out how to make a
profit?
High gross revenue does not make a business profitable.

The simple truth, the business is worth more in parts to the
current owners than the profit from business operations.

Ahh, the business is worth more in parts to the current owners than
the profit from business operations?
The logical thing is to break up the parts.
If you have a benevolent feeling with your money,
Invest in the infrastruction a business needs, hire people,
and payout all profits. You might wonder what those employees will do
when the economy turns down and you don't have the same profits and then
you must cut there pay. Oh, I forgot you don't paying them with your money.
Mikek
Mikek


$2.5 billion in annual sales and you can't find a way to make it work?

Baloney.


Easy. Reduce the exorbitant cost of union labor and bennies.


http://tinyurl.com/brkkbgk

Wayne.B December 5th 12 07:32 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole (long)
 
On Wed, 5 Dec 2012 08:36:38 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

That's my story and I am sticking to it.


===

And a great story it is. Thanks.


amdx[_2_] December 5th 12 09:23 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole (long)
 
On 12/5/2012 7:36 AM, Eisboch wrote:


"jps" wrote in message ...

On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 18:41:32 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


The bonuses to management and salaries of the hired "turnaround" guy
are peanuts when compared to the overall debt and are very commonplace
in Chapter 7 situations like this. The bankruptcy judge approved
them for reason. The simplistic views of bystanders are
understandable but don't reflect reality.


Except the "turnaround" guy is part of the vulture capital group. Just
another way to suck the bones dry whilst they're screwing the
employees out of their pensions and whatever else they can grab.

Who's to say your idea that it's far more complex isn't just another
view of a "bystander" who doesn't understand how awfully simple it all
is?
-------------------------------------------------------

I am not an expert on the subject but I've had some direct experience. I
was a principle (small, 5% stockholder and employee) in a company that
had venture capital, bank and private (me included) financing. The
company did ok for several years but started coming apart financially in
1986 due to Congress debating tax reforms for over a year. Orders for
equipment were put on hold and some orders were cancelled because the
customers (primarily large commercial and defense contractors) didn't
know how the tax reform debate would affect their bottom lines. Very
similar to what's going on today.

I witnessed up front and personal as the venture capital group installed
a turn around specialist in the company with all the best of intentions.
I can tell you that they view the company strictly through financial
eyes and not from any sense of loyalty to employees or consideration to
their families. They have a hard core attitude that is at odds with the
company's management who typically have some emotions involved and have
no desire to lay people off. The turn around guy, along with
management, has to determine which employees are absolutely necessary
for jobs in progress and for company value for a potential sale or
further investment. It's not a pleasant experience, but it is
necessary. He was doing his job. It tore me apart.

In the end, the bank called the note owed to them and the company went
into involuntary bankruptcy. The primary principle, CEO and president
knew it was coming and skipped town a few weeks before, "on vacation".
He was seriously affected and in a state of acute depression. I
happened to be second in command in the owner's absence and tried
unsuccessfully to contact him when employee's paychecks started
bouncing. I called the bank and learned that all the company's accounts
were frozen. I then called the company's attorneys and was advised to
immediately lay off *all* remaining employees which was not exactly a
wonderful experience. Ultimately, the company was sold in an
"arranged" auction by the bankruptcy court.

That's is the *simplified* version of what happened in this example.
Obviously, there were many more details and gut retching issues during
this horrible experience. I left that company immediately after the
sale and worked as a consultant to a major defense contractor to make
ends meet.
I was then 37 years old.

There was a personal benefit derived from it however. A few years
later, when I started my own company, I swore to never make the
mistakes that I witnessed during this experience. I've mentioned the
company from time to time here in the newsgroup but have never told the
whole story. As a business owner, you may find it interesting, so
here goes:

In January of 1990, I incorporated the company. Like the one that went
bankrupt in 1988, it designed and built high tech capital equipment for
commercial and military applications. Initially the company consisted
of me, my wife (receptionist and book keeper) and a friend from the
previous company. We did all the engineering and design and
subcontracted all the fabrication, machining and heavy construction. We
did the control systems in-house and the final assembly and test.

The only funding was my personal savings of approximately $25,000. We
secured a couple of small contracts from people we knew from the
previous company. I will always be grateful for their support and
confidence that they exhibited at the time. Bigger contracts came along
in short order. These are large dollar value items and they are
typically paid on a "progress payment schedule" that consisted of
several payments over the period of the contract, based on achievement
of specified milestones. I managed the finances essentially by having
the customers finance their own projects.

I never had a bank line of credit or loan and I never borrowed any money
from anyone. We added equipment when we could to do almost all the
fabrication in-house, paid for out of profit, not loans. I also sought
and brought into the company several highly qualified people in
engineering, finance and manufacturing disiplines, giving them all a
stock position as well as a salary.

By the end of 1999, the company had grown to about 70 employees with
revenues of about $17M annually. It came up on the radar screen of some
bigger companies and two of them ended up making formal offers to
acquire it in late 2000.

At the time the physical assets of the company (meaning manufacturing
equipment, engineering equipment, test equipment, etc.) probably
totaled about $500K in value. The rest of the value of the company
was in intellectual property and goodwill.

One of the two companies offered a deal whereby the stockholders in my
company would receive stock in the their company.
My company would become a division of theirs, building equipment only
for them.

The other company offered cash. They wanted to expand the company with
further investments and market our equipment to the industry in general.

Now, I may be uneducated in the ways of business and finance, but I am
not a complete idiot. The company had grown to a point where it needed
the expertise and resources of a larger organization for continued
growth. At this point I still owned 67% of the company and it was
getting more complicated to run. I knew my limits.

So, the company was acquired for a little over $21 million in cash. The
due diligence lasted only about 3 months before closing and every day
that I got up I couldn't believe it was all really happening. We had
no debt, no bank loans and no venture capitalists to pay off. The
proceeds went to the stockholders.

At the time of closing, and after all the adjustments were made for work
in progress, etc., the company had $1.5M in the bank, which we would
retain.

A week before the closing, I called a meeting of all the stockholders
and proposed an employee bonus plan, using this money.
It was unanimously agreed to.

The day after the closing, I called a meeting of all the employees. My
wife had made out checks to everyone. It basically came down to $1,000
for every month or part of a month that the employee had worked for the
company. Several had been with the company for 10 years. The average
was about 6 years. Some received over $120,000. A couple had just
joined the company, but still received at least $1,000.

That day was one of the most satisfying day of my life. Several people
received enough money to pay off their home mortgages. Others now had
the money to buy their first house. It was funny as hell to watch the
reaction when I announced the bonus formula. You could see people
mentally adding up the number of months they had been employed as I
explained how it would work. Meanwhile, my wife was walking around
handing out envelopes with the checks in them to all the employees.
Great day.

As for me, part of the acquisition deal included a three year
"consulting" agreement and non-compete clause. They didn't have to
worry. To this day I have no regrets and absolutely no interest in
getting involved in that industry again.

The only reason I started the goofy guitar shop thing is because I was
starting to drive my poor wife nuts, not having anything of importance
to do.
She's the one who, after looking at my modest collection of guitars,
amplifiers and Hammond B3 organ, suggested I open a "music shop".
I thought that would interesting and have been involved with it for the
past 3 and a half years. I realized however that I was never designed
or cut out to deal in a retail world, so I have turned the shop over to
a friend who is both a musician and a luthier. I stay involved, more
as a hobby and place to go, but he now owns and runs the place. It too
is growing and will be moving to a larger facility early next year.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.


I'm available for adoption. :-)
Mikek


jps December 6th 12 12:14 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole (long)
 
On Wed, 5 Dec 2012 08:36:38 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:



"jps" wrote in message
.. .

On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 18:41:32 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


The bonuses to management and salaries of the hired "turnaround" guy
are peanuts when compared to the overall debt and are very
commonplace
in Chapter 7 situations like this. The bankruptcy judge approved
them for reason. The simplistic views of bystanders are
understandable but don't reflect reality.


Except the "turnaround" guy is part of the vulture capital group. Just
another way to suck the bones dry whilst they're screwing the
employees out of their pensions and whatever else they can grab.

Who's to say your idea that it's far more complex isn't just another
view of a "bystander" who doesn't understand how awfully simple it all
is?
-------------------------------------------------------

I am not an expert on the subject but I've had some direct experience.
I was a principle (small, 5% stockholder and employee) in a company
that had venture capital, bank and private (me included) financing.
The company did ok for several years but started coming apart
financially in 1986 due to Congress debating tax reforms for over a
year. Orders for equipment were put on hold and some orders were
cancelled because the customers (primarily large commercial and
defense contractors) didn't know how the tax reform debate would
affect their bottom lines. Very similar to what's going on today.

I witnessed up front and personal as the venture capital group
installed a turn around specialist in the company with all the best of
intentions.
I can tell you that they view the company strictly through financial
eyes and not from any sense of loyalty to employees or consideration
to their families. They have a hard core attitude that is at odds
with the company's management who typically have some emotions
involved and have no desire to lay people off. The turn around guy,
along with management, has to determine which employees are absolutely
necessary for jobs in progress and for company value for a potential
sale or further investment. It's not a pleasant experience, but it
is necessary. He was doing his job. It tore me apart.

In the end, the bank called the note owed to them and the company went
into involuntary bankruptcy. The primary principle, CEO and president
knew it was coming and skipped town a few weeks before, "on vacation".
He was seriously affected and in a state of acute depression. I
happened to be second in command in the owner's absence and tried
unsuccessfully to contact him when employee's paychecks started
bouncing. I called the bank and learned that all the company's
accounts were frozen. I then called the company's attorneys and was
advised to immediately lay off *all* remaining employees which was not
exactly a wonderful experience. Ultimately, the company was sold in
an "arranged" auction by the bankruptcy court.

That's is the *simplified* version of what happened in this example.
Obviously, there were many more details and gut retching issues during
this horrible experience. I left that company immediately after the
sale and worked as a consultant to a major defense contractor to make
ends meet.
I was then 37 years old.

There was a personal benefit derived from it however. A few years
later, when I started my own company, I swore to never make the
mistakes that I witnessed during this experience. I've mentioned
the company from time to time here in the newsgroup but have never
told the whole story. As a business owner, you may find it
interesting, so here goes:

In January of 1990, I incorporated the company. Like the one that
went bankrupt in 1988, it designed and built high tech capital
equipment for commercial and military applications. Initially the
company consisted of me, my wife (receptionist and book keeper) and a
friend from the previous company. We did all the engineering and
design and subcontracted all the fabrication, machining and heavy
construction. We did the control systems in-house and the final
assembly and test.

The only funding was my personal savings of approximately $25,000. We
secured a couple of small contracts from people we knew from the
previous company. I will always be grateful for their support and
confidence that they exhibited at the time. Bigger contracts came
along in short order. These are large dollar value items and they
are typically paid on a "progress payment schedule" that consisted of
several payments over the period of the contract, based on achievement
of specified milestones. I managed the finances essentially by having
the customers finance their own projects.

I never had a bank line of credit or loan and I never borrowed any
money from anyone. We added equipment when we could to do almost all
the fabrication in-house, paid for out of profit, not loans. I also
sought and brought into the company several highly qualified people in
engineering, finance and manufacturing disiplines, giving them all a
stock position as well as a salary.

By the end of 1999, the company had grown to about 70 employees with
revenues of about $17M annually. It came up on the radar screen of
some bigger companies and two of them ended up making formal offers to
acquire it in late 2000.

At the time the physical assets of the company (meaning manufacturing
equipment, engineering equipment, test equipment, etc.) probably
totaled about $500K in value. The rest of the value of the company
was in intellectual property and goodwill.

One of the two companies offered a deal whereby the stockholders in my
company would receive stock in the their company.
My company would become a division of theirs, building equipment only
for them.

The other company offered cash. They wanted to expand the company
with further investments and market our equipment to the industry in
general.

Now, I may be uneducated in the ways of business and finance, but I am
not a complete idiot. The company had grown to a point where it
needed the expertise and resources of a larger organization for
continued growth. At this point I still owned 67% of the company and
it was getting more complicated to run. I knew my limits.

So, the company was acquired for a little over $21 million in cash.
The due diligence lasted only about 3 months before closing and every
day that I got up I couldn't believe it was all really happening. We
had no debt, no bank loans and no venture capitalists to pay off.
The proceeds went to the stockholders.

At the time of closing, and after all the adjustments were made for
work in progress, etc., the company had $1.5M in the bank, which we
would retain.

A week before the closing, I called a meeting of all the stockholders
and proposed an employee bonus plan, using this money.
It was unanimously agreed to.

The day after the closing, I called a meeting of all the employees.
My wife had made out checks to everyone. It basically came down to
$1,000 for every month or part of a month that the employee had worked
for the company. Several had been with the company for 10 years.
The average was about 6 years. Some received over $120,000. A couple
had just joined the company, but still received at least $1,000.

That day was one of the most satisfying day of my life. Several
people received enough money to pay off their home mortgages. Others
now had the money to buy their first house. It was funny as hell to
watch the reaction when I announced the bonus formula. You could see
people mentally adding up the number of months they had been employed
as I explained how it would work. Meanwhile, my wife was walking
around handing out envelopes with the checks in them to all the
employees. Great day.

As for me, part of the acquisition deal included a three year
"consulting" agreement and non-compete clause. They didn't have to
worry. To this day I have no regrets and absolutely no interest in
getting involved in that industry again.

The only reason I started the goofy guitar shop thing is because I was
starting to drive my poor wife nuts, not having anything of importance
to do.
She's the one who, after looking at my modest collection of guitars,
amplifiers and Hammond B3 organ, suggested I open a "music shop".
I thought that would interesting and have been involved with it for
the past 3 and a half years. I realized however that I was never
designed or cut out to deal in a retail world, so I have turned the
shop over to a friend who is both a musician and a luthier. I stay
involved, more as a hobby and place to go, but he now owns and runs
the place. It too is growing and will be moving to a larger facility
early next year.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.


We see the world in a very similar way. I've built my company in the
same fashion but the dollar value of our product isn't as high, as
we're in corporate instead of defense.

No loans, very little money invested outside of the prinicipals, all
profits plunged back into R&D. I hope to experience a similar day to
yours, before I keel over or move into an old folks home.

Love reading your story, thanks for sharing.

One difference I'll point out between venture vs. vulture. Venture
capitalists are more interested in making successes of their bets,
vultures don't care where the profits come from, even if it's the
company pension plan or burying the company in debt, the cash from
which is paid out to the vulture capital firm.

jps December 6th 12 12:19 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole (long)
 
On Wed, 5 Dec 2012 09:13:01 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:



"Eisboch" wrote in message
m...

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

jps:

BTW ... in case you are wondering ... yes, I paid somewhere around
37% in capital gains taxes.
Should have waited a few more years before selling. :-)


You struck while the iron was hot. Smart move. I'm sure the
difference in percentage wouldn't have altered your lifestyle.

You only need so much to be comfy, beyond that it doesn't really
matter, unless you're in some kind of race. I don't get the
impression you're one of those guys. Neither am I.

Risk reduction is a good thing when you get past 50.

jps December 6th 12 12:20 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On Wed, 05 Dec 2012 06:33:42 -0600, amdx
wrote:

On 12/5/2012 4:14 AM, jps wrote:

On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:07:13 -0600, amdx
wrote:



He was hired at that fee to restructure the company. So he earns the
money. Hostess main problem was a very expensive distribution network.
The drivers could not load a truck among other items of overhead.

He's part of the vulture capital firm that took over. Not enough that
these guys will reap large rewards for parting out a viable business
(save for their stupid decisions), they need to take exorbitant fees
too.


Hey, it's so easy to start and run a business, why don't you do it.
Oh, and get the union involved from the start, that way you will know
all the union rules. And don't question a rule just cause it looks
unproductive, it adds union jobs.
Mikek


I did start and do run a business that's more than 20 years old. I
pay far more than union wages, plus a compensation package that
includes health care benefits at exhorbitant expense.

Time to reign in some of these assholes who run companies dry. I'm
not talking about the tax man, I'm talking about the health care
industry, the most profitable industry in the US.

Can't wait for the state run markets to pull it together. I've been
paying between 10 and 15% increases every year for the past 15 years.
This year is the smallest increase ever, 6.5%. About ****ing time.


Overcharging your customers? Hmm...
Greedy!
Mikek


Don't understand what you're implying. I don't overcharge my
customers.

BAR[_2_] December 6th 12 12:39 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
In article , says...

On 12/4/12 5:18 PM, JustWait wrote:



You are right, the unions wanted to go along with it, it was the 3,000
greedy union "brothers" who ****ed the other 15,000 down the river..
Same way it happened at Finast, the top ten percent wage earners, ****
the rest for a few more bucks...



The unions had nothing to do with the demise of First National, aka
Finast. The chain was the victim of bad management from the Pick-and-Pay
Ohio group that took it over and then by the European group - Royal
Ahold - that took it over in the late 1980's. The latter organization
had all sorts of investigations going on, some of which resulted in
heavy fines and jail sentences.

Bad management...really bad management, and nothing to do with "union
problems."


You would know about bad management, bad accounting and bad business
practices in general. Pay your taxes and your debts deadbeat.

BAR[_2_] December 6th 12 12:42 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
In article ,
says...

On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:07:13 -0600, amdx
wrote:



He was hired at that fee to restructure the company. So he earns the
money. Hostess main problem was a very expensive distribution network.
The drivers could not load a truck among other items of overhead.

He's part of the vulture capital firm that took over. Not enough that
these guys will reap large rewards for parting out a viable business
(save for their stupid decisions), they need to take exorbitant fees
too.


Hey, it's so easy to start and run a business, why don't you do it.
Oh, and get the union involved from the start, that way you will know
all the union rules. And don't question a rule just cause it looks
unproductive, it adds union jobs.
Mikek


I did start and do run a business that's more than 20 years old. I
pay far more than union wages, plus a compensation package that
includes health care benefits at exhorbitant expense.


Facts not in evidence.

Time to reign in some of these assholes who run companies dry. I'm
not talking about the tax man, I'm talking about the health care
industry, the most profitable industry in the US.


You ability to run a going concern is doubtful.

Can't wait for the state run markets to pull it together. I've been
paying between 10 and 15% increases every year for the past 15 years.
This year is the smallest increase ever, 6.5%. About ****ing time.


So you are one of the greedy *******s who is going to toss his employees
off their health insurance plan, pay the penalty and lose productivity
because they have to wait in line to see a doctor.



BAR[_2_] December 6th 12 12:44 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
In article ,
says...

In article ,
says...


He was hired at that fee to restructure the company. So he earns the
money. Hostess main problem was a very expensive distribution network.
The drivers could not load a truck among other items of overhead.

He's part of the vulture capital firm that took over. Not enough that
these guys will reap large rewards for parting out a viable business
(save for their stupid decisions), they need to take exorbitant fees
too.


Hey, it's so easy to start and run a business, why don't you do it.
Oh, and get the union involved from the start, that way you will know
all the union rules. And don't question a rule just cause it looks
unproductive, it adds union jobs.
Mikek


http://tinyurl.com/brkkbgk


We bought Hostess mini muffins and Wonder bread each week. We were doing
our part to keep them in business.



Eisboch[_8_] December 6th 12 01:56 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole (long)
 


"jps" wrote in message
...


We see the world in a very similar way. I've built my company in the
same fashion but the dollar value of our product isn't as high, as
we're in corporate instead of defense.

No loans, very little money invested outside of the prinicipals, all
profits plunged back into R&D. I hope to experience a similar day to
yours, before I keel over or move into an old folks home.

Love reading your story, thanks for sharing.

One difference I'll point out between venture vs. vulture. Venture
capitalists are more interested in making successes of their bets,
vultures don't care where the profits come from, even if it's the
company pension plan or burying the company in debt, the cash from
which is paid out to the vulture capital firm.

------------------------------------------------------------------

One thing I always believed (at the risk of it sounding like Mitt
Romney).

Treat the company as if it's a person. Guide it, nurture it, grow it,
protect it.
If you take care of the company, the company will take care of you and
it's employees.
The "company" becomes the personification of all the people within it,
and they will prosper as the company does.

As for venture versus vultu

Venture Capitalists are the good guys when the company is growing and
needs financing.
Vulture Capitalists are the same guys when things turn to ****.



amdx December 6th 12 02:11 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On 12/5/2012 6:20 PM, jps wrote:
On Wed, 05 Dec 2012 06:33:42 -0600, amdx
wrote:

On 12/5/2012 4:14 AM, jps wrote:

On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:07:13 -0600, amdx
wrote:



He was hired at that fee to restructure the company. So he earns the
money. Hostess main problem was a very expensive distribution network.
The drivers could not load a truck among other items of overhead.

He's part of the vulture capital firm that took over. Not enough that
these guys will reap large rewards for parting out a viable business
(save for their stupid decisions), they need to take exorbitant fees
too.


Hey, it's so easy to start and run a business, why don't you do it.
Oh, and get the union involved from the start, that way you will know
all the union rules. And don't question a rule just cause it looks
unproductive, it adds union jobs.
Mikek

I did start and do run a business that's more than 20 years old. I
pay far more than union wages, plus a compensation package that
includes health care benefits at exorbitant expense.

Time to reign in some of these assholes who run companies dry. I'm
not talking about the tax man, I'm talking about the health care
industry, the most profitable industry in the US.

Can't wait for the state run markets to pull it together. I've been
paying between 10 and 15% increases every year for the past 15 years.
This year is the smallest increase ever, 6.5%. About ****ing time.


Overcharging your customers? Hmm...
Greedy!
Mikek


Don't understand what you're implying. I don't overcharge my
customers.

Just pulling your chain. You didn't take the bait.
Good for you.
Mikek

Eisboch[_8_] December 6th 12 02:30 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole (long)
 


"jps" wrote in message
...


We see the world in a very similar way. I've built my company in the
same fashion but the dollar value of our product isn't as high, as
we're in corporate instead of defense.

----------------------------------------

Be careful of what you claim to have built. Not politically correct
now-a-days.

:-)


[email protected] December 6th 12 02:44 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole
 
On Wednesday, December 5, 2012 7:39:47 PM UTC-5, BAR wrote:
In article , says...



On 12/4/12 5:18 PM, JustWait wrote:



You are right, the unions wanted to go along with it, it was the 3,000
greedy union "brothers" who ****ed the other 15,000 down the river..
Same way it happened at Finast, the top ten percent wage earners, ****
the rest for a few more bucks...



The unions had nothing to do with the demise of First National, aka
Finast. The chain was the victim of bad management from the Pick-and-Pay
Ohio group that took it over and then by the European group - Royal
Ahold - that took it over in the late 1980's. The latter organization
had all sorts of investigations going on, some of which resulted in
heavy fines and jail sentences.


Bad management...really bad management, and nothing to do with "union
problems."


You would know about bad management, bad accounting and bad business
practices in general. Pay your taxes and your debts deadbeat.


LOL

[email protected] December 6th 12 02:46 AM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole (long)
 
On Wednesday, December 5, 2012 7:19:35 PM UTC-5, jps wrote:
On Wed, 5 Dec 2012 09:13:01 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:







"Eisboch" wrote in message


m...




That's my story and I am sticking to it.




jps:




BTW ... in case you are wondering ... yes, I paid somewhere around


37% in capital gains taxes.


Should have waited a few more years before selling. :-)




You struck while the iron was hot. Smart move.


Smart move to default on his debts and not pay his taxes? Is that a liberal's take on his situation?


GuzzisRule December 6th 12 01:43 PM

Greedy Restructuring Asshole (long)
 
On Wed, 5 Dec 2012 21:30:45 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:



"jps" wrote in message
.. .


We see the world in a very similar way. I've built my company in the
same fashion but the dollar value of our product isn't as high, as
we're in corporate instead of defense.

----------------------------------------

Be careful of what you claim to have built. Not politically correct
now-a-days.

:-)


LMAO!

You gave us a great read. I hope your mom was alive to witness that. She'd have been mighty proud of
her little boy!


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