Millions of Dollars in Executive Severances Are Back, Too
I'm sure if I was one of those execs not being kept, I'd think it was only fair, and I inherently know as a deal guy that internally, they are simply treating it as a deal cost (and probably shaved the dough from another piece of the purchase), but it looks awful. Especially to rank and file employees, who have seen this paid time and again to people who wrecked the airline, and don't really think that deeply about it. The Judge OK'd it on Friday. Another case of the Arizona braintrust not paying attention to history. It's becoming painfully obvious they are making all these decisions based on the belief they are right, not on sound research. It reminds me of the Cingular/AT&T Wireless deal, where,after paying billions for the place, and its customers, it never contacted them. Callers were treated more like POW's than new acquisitions. When asked if you could just keep using your old AT&T stuff, they said sure, but you soon learned they would no longer support the equipment, or build additional sites for use on what is actually a different set of frequencies altogether. Deja vu all over again (early returns at Cingular showed big losses, over and above normal integration cost). Oh boy.