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Comments on
Daily Star parent awards CEO $500k after bankruptcy exit
Lee Enterprises carrying $1 billion debt
Posted Mar 27, 2012
Dylan Smith TucsonSentinel.com
The CEO of Lee Enterprises was awarded a $500k bonus after the troubled newspaper chain emerged from bankruptcy, the firm disclosed Tuesday. Lee publishes the Arizona Daily Star, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and dozens of other newspapers around the U.S.
Update: According to a report on JimRomenesko,com, Lee laid off employees, including a sports editor, the same day Junck’s bonus was included in the filing.
Five staffers at Lee’s Helena, Mont., newspaper and one at the chain’s Butte paper were let go, reports said.
I am a capitalist, and I think it’s every businesses’ right to be a stupid as they want to be. Hey, it’s your sandcastle…and if you want to kick it down before the tide rolls in then that’s your right.
However, I passionately believe that once you ask for bankruptcy protection, the rules should change until you are once again solvent…or at the very least are able to once again fulfill the terms that you initially agreed to with your creditors. After all, with bankruptcy protection, creditors are often forced to comply with modified terms…or just forced to forgive debt once and for all.
I understand where laid-off employees might be pissed off, wondering how many more years’ salary might have been paid with that half-million dollars. But, what I’m really concerned with here is creditors. True, considering their staggering debt, $500k is just a drop in the bucket. But if I’m a creditor I’m thinking that something is better than nothing, and that $500k should have been given to me.
In my mind bonuses are earned for doing a good job, and should be given out when times are good. Obviously, being a CEO if a company that is drowning in debt and had to file bankruptcy can not reasonably be considered doing a good job by anyone, and is hardly worth a bonus.
But, she deserves the bonus, because after all…it’s all the internet’s fault. Right? (rolls eyes)
I hope the Sentinel stays on top of this one. I’m curious to see if the trustee has a reaction once he/she hears of this bonus, and what that reaction would be.
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2 comments on this story
Update: According to a report on JimRomenesko,com, Lee laid off employees, including a sports editor, the same day Junck’s bonus was included in the filing.
Five staffers at Lee’s Helena, Mont., newspaper and one at the chain’s Butte paper were let go, reports said.
I am a capitalist, and I think it’s every businesses’ right to be a stupid as they want to be. Hey, it’s your sandcastle…and if you want to kick it down before the tide rolls in then that’s your right.
However, I passionately believe that once you ask for bankruptcy protection, the rules should change until you are once again solvent…or at the very least are able to once again fulfill the terms that you initially agreed to with your creditors. After all, with bankruptcy protection, creditors are often forced to comply with modified terms…or just forced to forgive debt once and for all.
I understand where laid-off employees might be pissed off, wondering how many more years’ salary might have been paid with that half-million dollars. But, what I’m really concerned with here is creditors. True, considering their staggering debt, $500k is just a drop in the bucket. But if I’m a creditor I’m thinking that something is better than nothing, and that $500k should have been given to me.
In my mind bonuses are earned for doing a good job, and should be given out when times are good. Obviously, being a CEO if a company that is drowning in debt and had to file bankruptcy can not reasonably be considered doing a good job by anyone, and is hardly worth a bonus.
But, she deserves the bonus, because after all…it’s all the internet’s fault. Right? (rolls eyes)
I hope the Sentinel stays on top of this one. I’m curious to see if the trustee has a reaction once he/she hears of this bonus, and what that reaction would be.