Have no fear, the Twinkie will survive
Even though Hostess is going into bankruptcy, a line of suitors is interested in grabbing some of its brands. And the Twinkie is one of the hottest ones.
The phones at Hostess are ringing off the hook as companies line up to pursue the 30 brands that are for sale, now that the final mediation session between the company and its striking employees has failed.
Hostess has received "a flood of inquiries" from interested buyers, attorney Heather Lennox told a bankruptcy judge in court this week, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Unfortunately, all 18,500 workers will lose their jobs at a company that should have been managed better. Hostess has been in bankruptcy before, and emerged a few years ago loaded up with debt from its private equity backers. The company was so underwater, in fact, that it couldn't buy new equipment, The New York Times reports. Hostess had more than $860 million in debt earlier this year.
Hostess is unfairly pushing all the blame for its troubles on the unions. Still, the unions do bear some responsibility here. High labor costs doomed the company; employees had formed into 12 different unions by the time the end came.
At any rate, Hostess is keeping a "skeleton staff" of 3,200 people, The Journal reports. It's trying to find buyers for 30 brands and 36 factories, and from the way the suitors are lining up, it sounds like Hostess won't have a problem with some of those brands.
"We therefore think there could be very healthy competition," Lennox told the court. Hostess may start auctioning some of its assets soon.
Hostess also plans to award bonuses to the officers and managers that helped run the company into the ground. The company is seeking $1.75 million to distribute to 19 executives for a job well done.
Some potential buyers include international companies eager for a piece of the U.S. bakery business as well as big pastry names already familiar to Americans. Flowers Foods (FLO), which makes Nature's Own bread, has been mentioned as a buyer along with Groupo Bimbo, a Mexican company that also owns the Entenmann's pastry line.
So whoever made the single bid for a $5,000 Twinkie sold on eBay, you may have a great story to tell but you probably won't have one of the last Twinkies ever made. They'll be back.
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| Tags: | Kim Peterson |
Hostess is not a publically listed company on the stock exchange....
They were bought out by a Venture...Vulture Capital Group a fews years back..Private Investors.
Probably with the intention of making the Company lean and mean, rape as much profit as possibly from the Corporation...Eventually proving possible bankruptcy??...So they can liquidate all assets...
Then sell off all the Brand's names..Twinkies being one of about two dozen or more..
Selling off bits and pieces of what's left of what was Interstate Bakeries,originally in Kansas City,MO.
The CEO Greg Rayburn of Hostess, now located in Irvine,TX and his band of Corporate Raiders, will walk away with $100s of Millions in spoilage of what is left and liquidated...He is a slime bag..
The new American Capitalist...Destroying your Country...One Company at a time.
When was the last time you ate a Twinkie?
Do you feed them to your kids?
Yea I know, there delicious. They're an Icon, but really,
How often do you eat them?
How often do you think you should eat them?
We're getting into personal choices here.
Think healthy has been pounded into or fat brains.
Why do you think TWINKIES went bankrupt?
Fail to diversifie. Stuck on what worked.
Just like the UNIONS, What worked in the '40~'50's is the way it's going to be foever. Period.
WE need more unions to hit these big businesses and corps.They have the money.Its one of the biggest ways to bring back the middle class.There were alot more unions back in the day and the middle class was good.There are less unions today and alot more people getting payed less,because of no contract working,and told no money is being made.But they prove it every day,by foolish spending,and hugh bonuses and saleries they try to keep secret.Corp planes and hugh money business trips.And that is just some of the stuff we now about.
Hard to tell from what has been reported so far from what I've seen or heard so far. By the way, there are more than a single type or kind of bankruptcy. Bankruptcy can be good toolsat times and can land most anywhere between or from destruction, restructuring and dissolution. So, which one is it? Why wasn't that that reported? It makes a drastically huge difference in the outcome for everyone involved. Or, is it just legalized union busting by the company itself to just reform a company at a later date? Company or Unions caused problems? Does it matter? Sometimes, one's as bad as the other and not much will help?
Out of all people,big corps and hugh companies are the perfect people to hit with unions.They have the money,and rove it every time they pass out HUGH undeserving bonuses,and pay out hugh saleries to the front office people,give out hugh compaign funding to republicans,and throw hugh business expense trips and who knows what else.
The smaller businesses might have a harder time keeping unions in,but the big one's for sure do,and just are made to think like there not making any money.Just the 1.75 million they passed out in bonuses could have kept the company running for several more years.It will be the same players,but different names.Thats how they get around the unions and keep the profits,and make you believe there not making any money.WAKE UP PEOPLE.
They all should be ashamed of themselves. As far as the Unions and the Hostess company leaders go, I wouldn't employ a single one of them when they all cut off their noses and most likely main source of livelihood at the expense of each other. Basically, they all drove the company into the ground.
It's just about the same as killing a person and comes pretty close to being inexcusable.
All the countless time, blood,sweat and tears that go into creating and nurturing a business just get's flushed down the drain because some people in the wrong place don't know how to manage themselves, other people or their concerns. Rewards for who for what? It's pretty sickening all the way around.
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