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If things are so dire today that they have no money and must shutdown immediately, they were dead in the water 6-8 weeks ago anyways. The company isn’t going to

If things are so dire today that they have no money and must shutdown immediately, they were dead in the water 6-8 weeks ago anyways. The company isn’t going to be miraculously saved during that time, so just take the cash you used to pay your employees to rearrange chairs on the sinking ship, call it 2 months early, and pay out their severance/health care during that time while they look for new jobs.

ska 3y ago
> they were dead in the water 6-8 weeks ago anyways. That's an extremely short horizon. Normally it's more than a quarter out, at least.
pxx 3y ago
The company can certainly be saved in a period of months. FedEx supposedly had less than a week of jet fuel opex remaining when the founder decided to try to win the missing money by gambling. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/fedex-saved-from-bankruptcy-with-blackjack-winnings-2014-7%3famp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/fedex-s...
- rootsudo 3y ago
  Yes, the bet it all on black and see if Lady Luck is on your side hope. What if they did and lost it all 6 weeks ago? What would that signal instead?
- BobaFloutist 3y ago
  "It worked once" is a very results oriented approach. If you look only at people who won the lottery, you'd have to be an idiot not to spend all your money on lottery tickets. How many times has someone done this and lost all their money, screwed over thousands of people, and never been heard of again? We don't know, because they aren't famous, but my suspicion is it's a much more common outcome.
- FireBeyond 3y ago
  Oh, let's not pat Fred Smith on the back for his grit and determination here. FedEx was already shafting their pilots for months before this. Bounced paychecks, pilots paying for jet fuel on personal credit cards, and more. If I was a pilot there, I'd have said "Fuck you, Fred", even though he won. How sociopathic do you have to be to gamble company money (sorry, isn't that a felony?) while bouncing paychecks? And yet you'll still have people here applauding your hustler mentality, apparently.
  - Dylan16807 3y ago
    > FedEx was already shafting their pilots for months before this. Bounced paychecks, pilots paying for jet fuel on personal credit cards, and more. This is bad. > How sociopathic do you have to be to gamble company money (sorry, isn't that a felony?) while bouncing paychecks? It sounds like he was about to bounce a lot more paychecks. Going all or nothing instead isn't something I would call sociopathic. What makes you call it that? Normally "gambling company money" implies embezzlement, which is not what happened here.
    - FireBeyond 3y ago
      > Normally "gambling company money" implies embezzlement, which is not what happened here. Huh, what? "In one instance, after a crucial business loan was denied, he took the company's last $5,000 to Las Vegas and won $27,000 gambling on blackjack to cover the company's $24,000 fuel bill." "Embezzlement is the fraudulent taking of property by someone to whom it was entrusted, usually involving theft from a business or employer." I mean I suppose you could try to make some argument that it was an officially sanctioned company act, but that's definitely some post facto rationalization. "’The meeting with the General Dynamics board was a bust and I knew we needed money for Monday, so I took a plane to Las Vegas and won $27,000.’ I said, ‘You mean you took our last $5,000-- how could you do that?’ He shrugged his shoulders" Sounds both unsanctioned and sociopathic to me. And not Fred's first or last brush with financial malfeasance, indicted for forgery over a $2 million loan from his family's trust fund. I'm inclined to think 'selfish' much more than 'plucky startup founder'.
zo1 3y ago
Then they should have started easing off spending "6-8 weeks ago" if not sooner. Cancel contracts, stop dev projects, get rid of non essential personel, sell off unused assets, maybe even start laying off people, etc.

ska 3y ago

> they were dead in the water 6-8 weeks ago anyways. That's an extremely short horizon. Normally it's more than a quarter out, at least.

pxx 3y ago

The company can certainly be saved in a period of months. FedEx supposedly had less than a week of jet fuel opex remaining when the founder decided to try to win the missing money by gambling. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/fedex-saved-from-bankruptcy-with-blackjack-winnings-2014-7%3famp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/fedex-s...

rootsudo 3y ago
Yes, the bet it all on black and see if Lady Luck is on your side hope. What if they did and lost it all 6 weeks ago? What would that signal instead?
BobaFloutist 3y ago
"It worked once" is a very results oriented approach. If you look only at people who won the lottery, you'd have to be an idiot not to spend all your money on lottery tickets. How many times has someone done this and lost all their money, screwed over thousands of people, and never been heard of again? We don't know, because they aren't famous, but my suspicion is it's a much more common outcome.
FireBeyond 3y ago
Oh, let's not pat Fred Smith on the back for his grit and determination here. FedEx was already shafting their pilots for months before this. Bounced paychecks, pilots paying for jet fuel on personal credit cards, and more. If I was a pilot there, I'd have said "Fuck you, Fred", even though he won. How sociopathic do you have to be to gamble company money (sorry, isn't that a felony?) while bouncing paychecks? And yet you'll still have people here applauding your hustler mentality, apparently.
- Dylan16807 3y ago
  > FedEx was already shafting their pilots for months before this. Bounced paychecks, pilots paying for jet fuel on personal credit cards, and more. This is bad. > How sociopathic do you have to be to gamble company money (sorry, isn't that a felony?) while bouncing paychecks? It sounds like he was about to bounce a lot more paychecks. Going all or nothing instead isn't something I would call sociopathic. What makes you call it that? Normally "gambling company money" implies embezzlement, which is not what happened here.
  - FireBeyond 3y ago
    > Normally "gambling company money" implies embezzlement, which is not what happened here. Huh, what? "In one instance, after a crucial business loan was denied, he took the company's last $5,000 to Las Vegas and won $27,000 gambling on blackjack to cover the company's $24,000 fuel bill." "Embezzlement is the fraudulent taking of property by someone to whom it was entrusted, usually involving theft from a business or employer." I mean I suppose you could try to make some argument that it was an officially sanctioned company act, but that's definitely some post facto rationalization. "’The meeting with the General Dynamics board was a bust and I knew we needed money for Monday, so I took a plane to Las Vegas and won $27,000.’ I said, ‘You mean you took our last $5,000-- how could you do that?’ He shrugged his shoulders" Sounds both unsanctioned and sociopathic to me. And not Fred's first or last brush with financial malfeasance, indicted for forgery over a $2 million loan from his family's trust fund. I'm inclined to think 'selfish' much more than 'plucky startup founder'.

zo1 3y ago

Then they should have started easing off spending "6-8 weeks ago" if not sooner. Cancel contracts, stop dev projects, get rid of non essential personel, sell off unused assets, maybe even start laying off people, etc.