That's brutal.

Yeah, that definitely sucks, but that happens in bankruptcy situations. If they don't keep people around to wind up the business, even fewer of the creditors will get paid because the liquidation will be less likely to get top dollar.

Agreed.

That being said, do you agree that it is beyond ridiculous to keep a guy on to "wind up the business" at 125,000/month while 30+ year workers get ****ed out of their pensions?

In bankruptcy the only people to truly get paid are:

Secured Creditors
Attorneys
CPA/Accountants hired for Forensic Account purposes
Employees who wind down the business
"Experts" in bankruptcy wind-down operations (Usually these are the experts who know how to maximize value of the bankruptcy estate)



Everyone else takes a haircut....some get a slight trim, others get it all taken off the top.

They worked for 30 years to get that pension. Now what are they going to live on?.....unemployment and the taxpayer dime. While the executive gets a 300K raise and the junior executives get raises for the fantastic job they did running it into the ground.

You see nothing wrong with this picture?

How easy is it to find a cheaper alternative and what were the terms of the guy's compensation before the decision to shut down and sell off?

If the judge who has all the information approves it, why should I come to a different conclusion based on almost no information?

Though it sounds awful and I don't blame the workers for being pissed, I agree with pat on this one. If you literally just fold up shop, there's even less money in the company to pay off debts and salvage whatever they can of those workers' pensions. It sounds like a lot of money to me for sure, but if they think they can save $200k per month by paying that guy $150k per month, they're making positive progress for everyone even if it doesn't seem that way.

Yeah, I guess there's not much more to do. I guess this is cheaper than paying a receivership to handle this (or maybe receiverships do not make those kinds of decisions).

Or, I will volunteer to do the job for 140K per month, and I will follow all the judge's decisions for who has priority of the remaining assets.

just fyi, walmart bought out a lot of the hostess stuff still left at the hostess factory's. I don't know about other walmarts, but the one by me has 8 pallets full of zingers($2).

I know they aint twinkies, but may make for a good investment...?

who knows there still maybe twinkies at some of the other walmarts...

Letting the executives that ran the company into the ground to profit while the working stiffs lose their pensions? In what world does that make sense?

As mentioned, in a world where we care about creditors and think the old executives are best able to handle the assets creditors are owed. Are the old executives taking advantage of the situation? Yeah, most likely. What is the cheaper alternative for wind-up management? Is it the receivership? I don't know.

More fun with Twinkies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2271868.html

Of course they did. Now the government is going to have to rescue that pension like they did those companies Romney's outfit ran into the ground.

HOSTESS TO SELL WONDER BREAD TO MAKER OF TASTYKAKE
By CANDICE CHOI
— Jan. 11 8:56 PM EST


NEW YORK (AP) — Hostess has found a new home for its most popular breads, including the iconic Wonder bread.

The bankrupt maker of Twinkies, Devil Dogs and other snack cakes said late Friday that it selected bids by rival bakery Flower Foods Inc. to buy six of its bread brands for $390 million. Flower Foods, based in Thomasville, Ga., is best known for Tastykakes but also makes breads including Nature's Own and Cobblestone Mill.

Hostess is expected to announce buyers for its famed dessert cakes in coming weeks. The company has said a wide variety of parties have expressed interest in its brands, including national supermarket chains and the makers of brand name packaged foods.

Flower Foods was selected as the "stalking horse" bidder for the bread brands. That means higher competing bids can still be made and the final deal must be approved in bankruptcy court. The company made two separate bids for the Hostess breads; a $360 million bid for Wonder, Nature's Pride, Butternut, Home Pride and Merita, along with 20 bakeries and 38 depots. Another $30 million bid was made for Beefsteak.

Taken together, Hostess said those breads generated just under $1 billion in sales last year, with Wonder bread accounting for about half of that. Flower Foods, which generates about $3 billion in annual sales, said it expects the deals to be accretive to its earning this year. The company plans to finance the deal through a mix of cash and debt.

Hostess Brands Inc., based in Irving, Texas, announced in November that it was shutting down its business and selling its breads and snack cakes.

The company's demise came after years of management turmoil and turnover, with workers saying the company failed to invest its brands. Hostess filed for its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy in less than a decade this January, citing costs associated with its unionized workforce. It had about 18,500 employees when it announced that it was shutting down after it was unable to reach a deal on a new contract with striking workers.

Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn, who was hired last year to help orchestrate a turnaround, said in a statement that negotiations were continuing with parties for its snack cakes and remaining bread bands. The company has stressed in bankruptcy court that it would need to move quickly in the sales to capitalize on the outpouring of nostalgia prompted by its shuttering.