Iridium's Mondale Resigns, Second CFO to Depart in 5 Months
(via I* yahoo thread)
Bloomberg News
September 1, 1999, 11:36 a.m. PT
Washington, Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Iridium LLC, which filed
for bankruptcy protection last month, said Leo Mondale resigned
as chief financial officer of the satellite-telephone company,
the second CFO to leave in five months.
Mondale, an Iridium executive since 1990, became CFO of the
troubled company in May after Roy Grant announced his resignation
in March. That was the start of a management shakeup that led to
the April resignation of Edward Staiano as chief executive, who
quit following a dispute with the company's board.
Iridium, whose biggest investor is Motorola Inc., defaulted
on $1.55 billion in bank loans last month after failing to
attract enough users to its 66-satellite global phone network.
Iridium, which expected to have as many as 600,000 customers by
the end of 1999, only has about 20,000, analysts have said.
Washington-based Iridium said it named David Gibson as
interim CFO. Gibson will be part of team hired to manage the
company's restructuring. Gibson will work with Joseph Bondi, who
was named chief restructuring officer. Both are managing
directors at Alvarez & Marsal Inc., a New York-based corporate-
turnaround company.
Shares of Iridium World Communications Ltd., the publicly
traded arm of Iridium LLC, are still halted almost three weeks
after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Iridium stock, which has been halted since Aug. 13, has fallen 90
percent this year. They last traded at 3 1/16.
________
cnnfn.com
Iridium CFO resigns
Satellite telecom firm retains turnaround specialist to help in financial overhaul
September 01, 1999: 3:54 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Iridium LLC's financial chief resigned Wednesday, the latest in a series of
troubles for the satellite telecom firm. The company also said it has retained a turnaround firm to help with
its financial restructuring.
Leo Mondale, whom Iridium characterized as instrumental in raising initial investment capital for the firm,
has resigned his post as chief financial officer effective immediately after four months at the post.
Iridium, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, is scrambling to come up with a
restructuring program to revive its rapidly sinking business.
The company has retained Alvarez & Marsal, a New York-based turnaround specialist, to help in its
restructuring. David Gibson, a managing director at Alvarez, will serve as Iridium's interim CFO. Another
Alvarez managing director, Joseph Bondi, will serve as chief restructuring officer.
"At this stage of the financial process, it is vital that we engage all the appropriate expertise to get our
restructuring done," said John Richardson, Iridium chief executive officer.
Iridium filed for bankruptcy protection in August after defaulting on $1.5 billion of its outstanding debt. The
company has experienced significant financial difficulties in the past 12 months, mostly because it's had
difficulty gaining subscribers for its global telephone service.
Trading of Iridium shares have been halted since it filed for bankruptcy protection. |
