Hostess Shrugged

[Chucktshoes]

The owners of PBR have expressed interest in buying Hostess Brands. Watch out, next thing you know Twinkies will only be served in divey little bars to bearded guys wearing winter clothes in the summer.

[Guest HvyMtl]

[img]https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/263493_471644826221384_1407757841_n.png[/img]

[Hershmeister]

Mmmmmm.......Mexican twinkies!

[mcurrier]

[img]http://cdn.conservativebyte.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Hostess-Layoffs.jpg[/img]

[Guest HvyMtl]

[url="http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/19/news/companies/hostess-bankruptcy-bonuses/index.html"]http://money.cnn.com...uses/index.html[/url]

Hostess lawyers moved to liquidate, and the Judge said no. Attempt to mediate their differences with the Union in question, first.

Union in question still states they went on strike knowing liquidation would be the choice of the company's management team.

How many management teams, in how many years? Again, looks more like a crappy management style, than all on the unions. Edited November 19, 2012 by HvyMtl

[Hershmeister]

It's their company and they can do with it what they will - well at least they should be able to.....

[DaveTN]

[quote name='Hershmeister' timestamp='1353365797' post='848443']
It's their company and they can do with it what they will - well at least they should be able to.....
[/quote]
Not when you are seeking bankruptcy protection. The Judge has to do what is best for the creditors.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

They can shut it down, anyway.

[DaveTN]

[quote name='6.8 AR' timestamp='1353370954' post='848483']
They can shut it down, anyway.
[/quote]
I don’t think they can unless they want to walk away with nothing.

I don’t know much about bankruptcy, maybe someone can step in, but they have filed for protection under chapter 11. They can’t just shut it down unless they want to turn everything over to their creditors. I don’t think they can do anything without approval of the court.

They still have product brand names that are worth a lot of money. Edited November 20, 2012 by DaveTN

[Guest dfsixstring]

BTW - when the NFL players union started the lockout, I was against it. I said that it isn't right for a union to force an owner to pay more - let the market dictate. I got a few flames over it. This is no different - except that we knew the NFL players and admire them. We don't know these workers so we side with the employer against the unions. Unions are categorically bad.


Dfsixstring
SR9c
LCP
RST4S

[Hershmeister]

[quote name='DaveTN' timestamp='1353368609' post='848463']
Not when you are seeking bankruptcy protection. The Judge has to do what is best for the creditors.[/quote]

The judges remarks indicate he was concerned about 18,000 jobs. Not creditors.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

According to reports, they already have, except for some stores to sell out existing merchandise, I thought.

I wasn't qualifying the point, but yes, they can shut down their plants. Creditors and employees notwithstanding.

And, from what I know, the judge can only deal with bankruptcy terms, not jobs, but in this upside down world, I
guess anything is possible.

[bubbiesdad]

[quote name='Sam1' timestamp='1353112246' post='846930']
Probably be bought by a Chinese company and filled with propylene glycol cream and coated in lead frosting with a radioactive package to seal in the flavor.
[/quote]

And melmac powder.

[bubbiesdad]

[quote name='OhShoot' timestamp='1353187073' post='847302']
[u]Eddy's[/u] is actually a real brand owned by Hostess. Seems to be a western regional brand of bread and cakes and stuff.

[img]http://routedriver.home.comcast.net/pub/temp/eddys.jpg[/img]

Goes back a long way before Hostess, lots of antique signs and stuff found for it.

Don't know who the "they" is that reported it but perhaps they were idiots who didn't know the difference between [u]Edy's[/u] and [u]Eddy's[/u].

- OS
[/quote]

Dang, I like Holsum bread. Good price and good bread.

[bubbiesdad]

[size=5]Twinkies, you'll always have a place in my heart.[/size]

[IMG]http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk59/bubbiesdad/FQLvB.jpg[/IMG]

[Guest HvyMtl]

[url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20402361"]http://www.bbc.co.uk...siness-20402361[/url]

Wait, wait. Give yourself an 80% RAISE while killing the company? Cut the amount you promised to the pension fund to 25%, demand pay cuts, and increased health costs from your employees, while giving yourself and 80% pay raise?

Yeah. Bad management scheme. Edited November 20, 2012 by HvyMtl

[mcurrier]

[color=#333333][font=Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif]"It also emerged that some members of the management had received 80% pay rises at the same time."[/font][/color]

[color=#333333][font=Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif]Maybe some members of management received 80% pay increases because they took pay cuts earlier to keep the company going? It doesn't give specifics. It could happen. My wife took a 'temporary' pay cut of 10% at her job that lasted over two years (and was still in effect) so she finally decided to find another job.[/font][/color]

[JeffsSig]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-last-of-the-Twinkies-1-BOX-of-Hostess-24-Twinkies-a-Vampire-Mob-poster-/281025030687?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416e65aa1f

Love the guns. If they came with the twinkies I may bid!

[Guest HvyMtl]

You do not give out pay raises when the company is going belly up. Same problem I had with those Wall Street groups that gave out huge bonuses, paid for with taxpayer money.

[Oh Shoot]

[quote name='JeffsSig' timestamp='1353444168' post='848853']
[url="http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-last-of-the-Twinkies-1-BOX-of-Hostess-24-Twinkies-a-Vampire-Mob-poster-/281025030687?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416e65aa1f"]http://www.ebay.com/...=item416e65aa1f[/url]

Love the guns. If they came with the twinkies I may bid!
[/quote]

The guns might well get that listing nuked before it's done.

- OS

[mcurrier]

[quote name='HvyMtl' timestamp='1353444311' post='848855']
Same problem I had with those Wall Street groups that gave out huge bonuses, paid for with taxpayer money.
[/quote]

I don't disagree with you there.

[quote name='HvyMtl' timestamp='1353444311' post='848855']
You do not give out pay raises when the company is going belly up.
[/quote]

Putting people [i]back[/i] to their original salary in my hypothesized example, would not qualify as a pay raise. Neither of us know the details of that until someone reports more information on exactly what occurred.

[Guest HvyMtl]

Welp, it is gone, and they still asked for big bonuses for those executives closing it down.

[url="http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/21/news/companies/hostess-closing/index.html?hpt=hp_t3"]http://money.cnn.com....html?hpt=hp_t3[/url]

"Hostess Brands also has asked for approval of $1.75 million in bonuses, ranging from $7,400 to $130,500, to be paid to 19 executives to oversee the liquidation of the company."

"The Justice Department's bankruptcy trustee in the case has also filed an objection to the bonus plan."

My theory is this: Bimbo brands, the Mexican company, will buy some assets and some of the brand names, such as Twinkies, and continue its expansion into the US market.

@mcurrier, If you are going bankrupt, and are "putting salaries back to original salary" for some of your workers, while asking others to deeply cut their salaries? Is that fair? Edited November 21, 2012 by HvyMtl

[JeffsSig]

Hostess says around 18,000 employees.
Divide that 1.75 mil and thats like 98$ a person.

[Guest HvyMtl]

$98 a person, yes, but I bet if your employer took $98 out of your paycheck, you would not be happy.

And its to the benefit of 19 people, at the expense of 18000 others.

[RobertNashville]

The bonuses make sense....about 15 years ago I was part (a small part) of shutting down the Singer Furniture Company (yes, [u][i]that[/i][/u] Singer; part of Singer Sewing Company)...it takes a lot of time and work and you absolutely want people who know what's going on to be there as long as possible (which isn't easy given that people know they are working themselves out of a job). If you don't have those people to see that things are done right the only people you'll really end up screwing is the people that Hostess stills owes money too because done the wrong way, buildings and equipment (not so much intellectual property) can become worthless junk.

Sad time for those employees now out of work but they brought it on themselves, either directly or indirectly. Edited November 21, 2012 by RobertNashville