I'm a little slow in posting this so a little behind...but I am so happy to report that my unemployment saga has concluded in the best possible way. We were purchased by the sons and daughter of the couple that founded our company 51 years ago. They sold us back in the early ‘90s, a couple years before I came on board. It’s only been a few weeks, but already, we are seeing that they seem to be wonderful people full of commitment, passion and integrity. And the great thing is they seem to be just as thrilled to discover the same in us. No one is promising that this will be an easy road before us, but for the first time in years, the effort seems worth it. I am trying to remain cautiously optimistic…but really, I find myself becoming more and more, just full-blown optimistic. I am looking forward to better times ahead for us all.
I hope the local papers eventually tell the whole story as it deserves to be told because it is a pretty unusual tale in this time of big corporations--where small companies get tossed around by large conglomerates and greed and ego dictate many corporate decisions. This is one of the rare situations where a story like ours has a happy ending.
We knew that Entertainment was facing financial difficulties--but not chapter 7 difficulties. Options were out there, but as I’ve already written, it was due to a fight between John Menard and Steven Hilbert of MH Equity, our parent company. Offers had been made by the Potikers (our new owners and founders) prior to the bankruptcy to purchase us from MH. But those offers were turned down. The Potikers came back with further offers. Hilbert was interested in working with them, but then the MH people got tied up in a law suit and nothing was able to go through in time. So several hundred people came to work on March 11th to learn that they no longer had jobs.
We knew that Entertainment was facing financial difficulties--but not chapter 7 difficulties. Options were out there, but as I’ve already written, it was due to a fight between John Menard and Steven Hilbert of MH Equity, our parent company. Offers had been made by the Potikers (our new owners and founders) prior to the bankruptcy to purchase us from MH. But those offers were turned down. The Potikers came back with further offers. Hilbert was interested in working with them, but then the MH people got tied up in a law suit and nothing was able to go through in time. So several hundred people came to work on March 11th to learn that they no longer had jobs.
It was decided that an auction would be held for our assets. And as I’ve written, we were called back into work by the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy to keep things moving. We are told that this is highly unusual—like maybe once in twenty years unusual. Things were in limbo for a few weeks prior to the sale. We heard rumors about how many parties might be preparing to bid on us, and who they might be. The only two we (at my level) knew about were the Potikers and another family who have a competing product on the east coast. Both parties came in and met with the upper management to learn about the company. We heard that both entities seemed great and wished to maintain operations and our jobs would be safe either way.
The day of the auction, Friday, 4/19, we got an email at the end of the day stating that the trustee was going to recommend that the assets should go to the Potikers and we should continue to come in to work. On the following Monday, we expected to hear some confirmation of the sale, but nothing came through. The next morning, we heard that the Potikers did win the auction. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief.
Little by little, we heard stories about how that auction had gone. We heard that the competitors had come to the auction Friday with a letter from a bank instead of cash so they were deemed unqualified bidders and the recommendation was made that the assets should go to the Potikers. But on Monday, the competitors came back with a pile of money. The judge made the unheard of decision to re-open the bidding, against the recommendation of the trustee and start the auction all over again.
I’ve learned a lot about corporate bankruptcy in the past few weeks. One thing I learned is that a group from MH Equity, including Steven Hilbert, deemed secured investors, were entitled to receive the full amount of the money that they were owed. Isn’t that messed up? Out of all the employees and vendors and everyone who is owed money, these jerks get to be fully paid out while everyone else gets pennies on the dollar. Apparently, the competitors offered them the full amount—cash money (eleven million, I believe). The Potikers offered a couple million, plus 5% equity in the new company. Amazingly, the MH entity chose the Potikers’ offer because they felt they’d have a better chance of making more money that way. So that made me feel pretty good to hear that someone would take that gamble on us. I guess ol’ Hilbert also stated that he wanted to do right by the employees. So we’ll give him a little credit for at least saying that, whether it really had anything to do with that or not. I hear that they told the competitors that they didn’t like their plans and felt that they were better off going with the Potikers so the competitor stormed out. And that is how we ended up where we are now.
It seems like fortune was smiling on us to get this company into the hands of the Potikers because we surely would have been dismantled by the other company and most of us would have lost our jobs again, no doubt. There is another entity that kicked in to sweeten the pot that enabled the Potikers to win. We’re not allowed to talk about that yet, but it is really interesting and should help us out immensely.
I've had several opportunities to hear and speak with Lowell Potiker, our new CEO and his sister Jori. I've also had a few meetings with the new CFO. I'm happy to report they all seem like intelligent, earnest, hard-working people with passion and heart and the best interests of the company at heart. Lowell already owns 2 or 3 other companies, one of which is a restaurant finance company that I hear is very successful (interesting partnership possibilities for our company--synergy!!! Ok, I just took a break to wash my mouth out....I promise to never use that word again). It's silly, but what impresses me more are the small things...like they smile a lot...they've trekked down to our side of the building more than any other execs did the whole time we've been in that building...they threw a Cinco de Mayo party Friday and socialized and celebrated with everyone...the CFO talked about maybe bringing his dog into work (he said it's a toy poodle named Alan--are you kidding me? That dog name alone made me like him a ton!) and there was an in-office dog sighting this morning...Lowell's son's dog, we heard.
I'm sure you business-y types are reading this (actually, any business-y types are probably busy with The Economist and such things and not reading silly blogs at all) thinking how dumb it is to base the abilities of our new owners on the fact that they smile and like dogs. Well, it's not just the smiles....it's that they have actually cared to see what all of us are thinking. The few ideas or suggestions we've thrown out have been not just heard, but questioned further and really examined. I think they actually care. A breath of fresh air after the string of duds who have owned our company in the past—CUC, a corporation whose executives were indicted for financial fraud; Barry Dillar, owner of IAC, who has won the title of “highest paid CEO” on several occasions. And then MH Equity, owner of Menard’s hardware stores—owned by a man who forces his managers to sign agreements that they will not build a house, an addition, even a deck while employed there because he’s so afraid of losing a dime to employee theft; a man who sued a couple for building a house to accommodate their special-needs child; a man who docks his employees pay if there are too many carts in the parking lot. What a guy. So it’s great to be owned by people who seem like real, approachable humans who seem to want us for all the right reasons.
I'm sure you business-y types are reading this (actually, any business-y types are probably busy with The Economist and such things and not reading silly blogs at all) thinking how dumb it is to base the abilities of our new owners on the fact that they smile and like dogs. Well, it's not just the smiles....it's that they have actually cared to see what all of us are thinking. The few ideas or suggestions we've thrown out have been not just heard, but questioned further and really examined. I think they actually care. A breath of fresh air after the string of duds who have owned our company in the past—CUC, a corporation whose executives were indicted for financial fraud; Barry Dillar, owner of IAC, who has won the title of “highest paid CEO” on several occasions. And then MH Equity, owner of Menard’s hardware stores—owned by a man who forces his managers to sign agreements that they will not build a house, an addition, even a deck while employed there because he’s so afraid of losing a dime to employee theft; a man who sued a couple for building a house to accommodate their special-needs child; a man who docks his employees pay if there are too many carts in the parking lot. What a guy. So it’s great to be owned by people who seem like real, approachable humans who seem to want us for all the right reasons.
We’ve all been kicked around for a while—even long before the bankruptcy—so it feels good to peek out from under the bed and find that maybe we’re safe and can allow our bruises to heal so we can go on to lead a happy work life. I feel like that sounds so victim-y. Of course, we were free to leave and find other jobs at any time, but that place has a way of holding onto you. It’s hard to leave a place with such wonderful people. Even with all its faults in recent years, I still generally enjoyed coming into work. Sure, the work sucked sometimes, but it’s nice to have people who will make you laugh and have fun, even in the worst of times. To say that my co-workers are like family sounds cliche, but it's really true. And now it's nice to have that family thread to all the way up to the top--instead of feeling like there are robots lurking in the marble hallways. Feels like "it's a great day at Entertainment!" again.
