Bill Clinton defends private equity investors because he’s one of them. Call it a case of self-defense. It wasn’t long ago that Bill was brought into Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies and paid tens of millions of dollars to schmooze with potential takeover clients and investors. (Oh, yeah, Burkle and Clinton were pretty well known for chasing tail all over Hollywood, but that’s another story.)
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Here’s how Wikipedia describes a couple of Yucaipa’s deals that went bad:
In February 2006, Aloha Airlines was taken into private ownership by Yucaipa Companies. After 61 years in business, passenger operations were suddenly shut down on March 31, 2008. Rising fuel prices, new competition for interisland travel, a tightening credit market, and dwindling interest by investors in the airline industry, were all cited as contributing factors. In January 2011 Yucaipa won federal Bankruptcy Court approval to buy the Aloha name and other intellectual property for $1.5 million with a stipulation that it not resell the name to Mesa Air Group, the parent of go! Mokulele. It is unknown at this time what the furture plans are for the Aloha name.
Caught in the “pink slime/finely textured beef” controversy and with interim chief executive Ron Allen citing “ongoing media attention” that has “dramatically reduced the demand for all ground beef products” in 2012, Yucaipa’s AFA declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, AFA at the time the controversy broke had about 850 employees and annual revenues of $958 million.
Remember this one next time you hear a lefty talk about Mitt Romney’s career.
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