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Biotech / Medical : Elan Corporation, plc (ELN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Arthur Radley who wrote (10252)	2/23/2010 12:10:58 PM
From: tom pope	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10345

The best example of that phenomenon was also one of the earliest - Tony O'Reilly of Heinz, more than 20 years ago.

To: Arthur Radley who wrote (10252)	2/23/2010 12:45:04 PM
From: Harold Engstrom	1 Recommendation Respond to of 10345

I don't know much about Kelly Martin's personal habits. And, I don't think that his compensation has been excessive by the standards of his peers in finance. But, his decision-making has been extremely poor and his staff seems to consist of a large number of fellow ex-Merrill Lynch people who do not seem to make any difference to Elan's progress. He seems to have spend maybe $200m towards manufacturing facilties that were never actually built. He hired and fired 2 sales forces. After 7 years at the helm of Elan during which time he could have negotiated top dollar and excellent terms for AAB, he instead waited until the last minute and essentially donated AAB control to JNJ for $0. Risk assessment has never been a part of Kelly Martin's belt of management 101 tools - a major flaw for a pharma exec. And cost control has been a must for Elan for several years, but notably absent (in my opinion.) Fundamentally, Kelly Martin does not seem interested in running a biopharmaceutical business. He does seems interested in being a CEO. Elan needs someone who is interested in both things simultaneously.