Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffk
This animosity has been going on quite publicly for a long time. I doubt they are coming together to stage anything.
Might the ASD side of it be happy to sell and take the money and run? Absolutely, since that seems to be their main focus.
It seems a bit crazy to let things get to this point because a viable business is going to be worth more than one that is disintegrating. Hannaford's buying them out to rid themselves of a low price competitor is NOT going to offer top dollar.
Maybe the hatred of each other has gotten to the point where they just don't care if they take a loss. They just want OUT! They probably did not expect the employee backlash but now that it has happened, what are they going to do? Work on rebuilding the business? They didn't want to spend time and money doing that in the first place. Their hatred of ATD would probably prevent the ASD side from accepting a buyout (that would probably delay the payout for as long as possible) to ATD. So what's left? Sell it for what you can. Scorched earth.
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The problem with all of this is that business logic does not apply. Clearly, no self respecting business person would allow an asset such as MB (especially with a large equity share) to decompose in this fashion. Most of this is emotional and historical:
- Arthur T's father supposedly took millions from Arthur S's father which he was not entitled to.
- Arthur T has built up MB and turned it into a prideful and productive company.
- Arthur S bears the animosity of what allegedly happened to his father toward Arthur T.
- Arthur S appears to want to pull as much capital out of MB as he can without concern for the company (ergo the $250M distribution).
- It seems as though Arthur S would be happy to destroy what Arthur T has built as retribution.
- Both have more money than god and appear to be engaged in an emotional battle.
It would be nice to see cooler heads prevail; otherwise, I suspect that this will be scorched earth. Fundamentally, it is not clear whether MB has the capital to survive a prolonged standoff.
Jetskier
