ALAN ABELSON LIED AND / OR WAS MISINFORMED about WENDT.
Alan Abelson,
has gotten things wrong in the past and has done it again.
For the last 3 years he missed cold how the Reagan/Republican
initiated tax and welfare cuts , by putting more
money into consumer pockets,
restraining Government spending a and waste
and putting more bodies at work,
would turn the US Economy
into a Saturn rocket headed for the moon.
So Barron readers where left holding the bag on
Year to year Nasdaq 30 to 80 % wins.
For a would-be economist like AB that is not good.
But I suppose folks read his editorial because of
his writing abilities rather than it's economics 101
contents.
However after having been wrong on many economical outlook
issues in the past ,even that welcome is wearing thin now.
Maybe we should read him under the Sunday Cartoons Section at Barron’s in the future.
Here in a nutshell are my thoughts:
=======================================================
Alan Abelson DID NOT do Due Diligence on Wendt
When he said in his editorial:
http://dowjones.work.com/display_news.asp?doc_id=DJ20000807000008
Mr. Wendt got $45 million before even discovering the location of the men's room.
In fact THIS is what exactly happened and what Wendt
said instead , if Alan had only cared
to read the rag ( WSJ ) that pays his salary:
http://messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=FN&action=m&board=7081488&tid=cnc&sid=7081488&mid=60373
Wendt said he expressed an interest in the job just days after former
Chairman and CEO Stephen Hilbert resigned in late April, about the
same time the interim management team put out feelers to him.
"Our letters crossed in the mail," he said.
Wendt said he gained some familiarity with Conseco during his
15-year tenure at General Electric Co.'s (GE) GE Capital Services,
because the two companies would often discuss buying and selling
various properties.
"From that knowledge I had in the past I know within Conseco there are
some very good basic businesses," Wendt said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And what Alan Abelson said about Wendt’s pay is also incomplete and misleading:
” If that isn't enough, well, Mr. Wendt will have come and went.
He'll still have his $45 million. “
He missed/lied to put an important detail down:
Gary Wendt took a $20,000,000 cut to take this job at CONSECO.
Again if he had only bothered to read the Wall Street Journal and become informed like the rest of us:
http://messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=FN&action=m&board=7081488&tid=cnc&sid=7081488&mid=58262
Taking the top job at Conseco Inc. cost Gary C. Wendt $20 million
even after the $45 million in cash he is getting to assume the position,
Mr. Wendt said in an interview.
Mr. Wendt said that under a noncompete agreement with his former employer,
General Electric Co.,
he would have received more than $65 million had he remained "in a hammock" an additional 21 months.
Instead, Conseco issued a warrant for 10.5 million shares of its common stock
to a finance unit of GE to release Mr. Wendt from that agreement.
And Mr. Wendt forfeited the $20 million or so to give himself an incentive
"to really turn this baby around," he says.
As to how he plans to do that, Mr. Wendt declined to offer specifics.
He said he envisioned a "slimmed-down, streamlined" Conseco.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And finally Mr. Abelson always likes to put himself a tad above “ run of the mill shareholders “:
He says
Loyal shareholders (i.e., those who failed to sell) will have a bit less.
Well that may or may not be true.
Perhaps he ought to give some praise to the combined entity of
Wendt + “ loyal shareholders “
Who are willing to
- save the jobs of 15,000
- create a company that will continue to provide good insurance
- maintain their excellent mutual funds
- help keep folks in Indiana off the welfare rolls, ie continue
Reagan’s dream.
Maybe Alan Abelson has gotten to that point in his life
where he ought to start thinking about
the Big R:
Retirement.
The reason for retitring is that he is now beginning to
confuse Flowery English prose with Economic facts.
That's a dangerous turn for a paper like Barron's to take.
TA
PS: And don't forget that Barron's and Colin Devine have
been short on CONSECO since $20. Talk about conflicts
of interest!
.
.
.
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you said
To: Tunica Albuginea who wrote (2196)From: donjuan_demarco Saturday, Aug 5, 2000 12:17 PM ETReply # of 2198
Barron's says CNC is garbage:
From Barron's:
Up and Down Wall Street, Part 1
Irwin's back.
What do you mean, Irwin who? Why, Irwin Jacobs, of course. You remember -- Irv the Liquidator!
Ah, it seems like only yesterday that those brave buckaroos, those relentless nightriders, those audacious raiders thundered over the broad expanse of the corporate landscape, instilling terror in the hearts of company chieftains, exacting tribute here, plundering there.
What a splendid group of rogues and rascals, all chubby cheeks and beady little eyes! Their names -- Pickens and Posner, Perelman and Jacobs -- still resonate among investors of nostalgic inclination and of sufficient vintage to recall the stirring feats of extortion carried out by those bold brigands. The mere mention of "Boone Pickens" was enough to turn the fiercest oil titan ashen and set his weathered hands atremble. At the barest whisper of "Carl Icahn," "Saul Steinberg" or "Ron Perelman," the icy fingers of fear gripped the heart of many an otherwise intrepid captain of industry.
To tell the truth, Irwin Jacobs was not a towering presence in this awesome band; less a nightrider than, oh, a dog-cart driver. But he certainly was eager and, after a lot of diligent practice, he learned to stomp his feet loudly and make a serviceably horrid face (enough to scare tiny children and small CEOs). He became a kind of Wobegon menace.
Most of the old gang have hung up their masks, filed down their fangs and put their nags out to pasture. So it was with sheer joy as July wound its weary way off the calendar that we encountered evidence that Irwin Jacobs was alive and malevolent. The good news came in the form of an ad he took out in our sister publication.
This was not, however, a plea to investors for help in the noble undertaking of seizing control and dismembering some recalcitrant company. Instead, it was a summons to shareholders of beleaguered Conseco to join in a holy crusade against the heathen short-sellers.
More specifically, he urged the shareholders to retrieve their stock lent to short-sellers, forcing the latter to buy in the shares they'd borrowed. Exhibiting the profound insight denied to all but the most sophisticated investor, he explained that compelling the shorts to purchase Conseco stock could push the price of the stock higher, especially since the total shares sold short represent a sizable slice of the float.
What this told us, besides the fact that Irwin Jacobs is a truly public-spirited person and a wonderful human being, is that he was in a lather to get the value of his Conseco holdings up. He owns something between 10 and 15 million shares of the common, most of which he claims to have acquired at $4.50-$5 a share, when the stock was bumping along the bottom back in the spring.
For some unfathomable reason, his clarion call for action against the short-sellers fell on deaf ears. When he issued it, the stock was around 8, and a week later it was not quite at that level. Could be its holders know that the woes of Conseco -- and what drove the shares down from an all-time high of 58-plus -- have nothing to do with short-sellers and everything to do with the wretched condition of the company.
Pure and simple, Conseco's in the red, leveraged up to the ying-yang, has been liquidating assets big-time and, we suspect, not at a profit, and is still saddled with what used to be called Green Tree Financial (Lemon Tree would have been more descriptive), a truly awful acquisition that it can't sell for love much less for money. Further, Conseco has a credit rating that can't be discussed at the dinner table, and its stated book value of $16.60 contrasts rather bleakly with real book value (ex goodwill) of $3 a share.
Conseco, in short, is a mess. To clean up the mess, Gary Wendt has been recruited from GE. Mr. Wendt got $45 million before even discovering the location of the men's room. From all accounts a sound exec, he doubtless will give it his best shot. If that isn't enough, well, Mr. Wendt will have come and went. He'll still have his $45 million. Loyal shareholders (i.e., those who failed to sell) will have a bit less.
Irwin Jacobs, though, should have enough to take out a few more ads in The Wall Street Journal (as an employee of Dow Jones, we sure hope so). By then, the short-sellers may be long gone. But he could always blame fate. Or the weather.
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