Dave Brandon & Bain directors sued over Toys R Us bankruptcy
As expected, Dave Brandon and a few Bain directors have been sued for essentially walking into Toys R Us, emptying the cash registers, and then burning the place to the ground. Let us all take a moment to thank the blog (and WD’s aunt, I believe), for driving this real life Gordon Gekko sadist out of Ann Arbor. Pathetic that he was then allowed to go ruin the lives of thousands of Toys R Us workers.
But he did give us UTL and made ESPN pay for the lights! So I guess that justifies it in the eyes of the people who thought it was a good idea to hire this clown as Michigan’s AD.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/toys-r-us-creditor-sues-former-owners-ex-ceo-2020-03-12
(Ed-S: Comments reset for a security issue.)
Finally some good news.
Bane!
March 13th, 2020 at 12:20 PM ^
"Let's not stand on ceremony here, Mr. Geoffrey the Giraffe."
What does this have to do with coronavirus?
How did this blog/WD's aunt contribute to DB departing Michigan?
I believe that it was WD's aunt that sent the letter Brandon returned with the missive 'stop drinking and go to bed'. You know, the one that lit the torches sold by Ann Arbor Torch and Pitchfork...
Pretty sure that the torches were lit when Hoke and Brandon completely fucked up Shane Morris' concussion.
March 13th, 2020 at 11:40 AM ^
That headset technology was just too much for Hoke to understand.
March 13th, 2020 at 12:18 PM ^
The Infamous Dave Brandon email to WD's aunt or whatever was very similar to the Franz Ferdinand assassination. WW1 was a ticking time bomb that was bound to happen, however the assassination was the fuse that set everything into motion.
Thats what the email was. We knew DB was in trouble, but that email sealed his fate.
Any mention of an arcane assassination over 100 years ago on a sports blog is proof that this page is not RCMB or 11 Warriors. Seriously - how many people, upon hearing the name Franz Ferdinand, would immediately conjure the flash point of WW1? LOL!!!
uh, actually, I think quite a lot?
March 13th, 2020 at 10:25 AM ^
It wasn't his aunt. It was his "friends" aunt, meaning a random twitter follow, he has a hard time giving a 100% truthful answer to anything at all. Not saying this to pick on him, it's just mildly annoying that people don't read things more carefully in general. Not specific to this.
It's a nice thought, but I doubt it will go anywhere. What Bain did to TRU is what hundreds of other 'investment firms' have done to countless other businesses. The hostile takeover completes, they setup a high percentage take of all income and sell off assets. This combines to reduce the income from productive assets, drains cash reserves, and enriches the 'investment firm'. People like Brandon specialize in taking these companies through bankruptcy, and Wall St rewards them for it.
It's all endorsed by Wall St and perpetrated against consumers, in the name of 'invesment banking'. Trying to put a stop to it will gain the ire of Wall St. And don't forget that the Supreme Court has proven very friendly to business, at the cost of consumers, over the last 15 years, or so.
March 13th, 2020 at 12:56 PM ^
This. These guys specialize in taking under-performing companies and turning them into sinking ships. And right before it sinks they raid the whole thing. Brandon and fellow executives gave themselves massive bonuses literally days before bankruptcy. Bain got incredibly rich. The toy vendors barely got paid, and small software companies (like the one I used to work for) who spent like a year working with TRU didn't see a cent.
But the politicians and who allow and have allowed this shit for decades "totally have our back" and the "economy is doing well under this guy" and on and on and on...our system is corrupt and won't get any better until we actually vote for real change and not along team lines (Rs or Ds). Same with healthcare. This country is "great" but also shit at the same time.
Cough cough
Hack
Sneeze
Shut it down this blog is infected
was going to post this. not an OT in a day all sports are cancelled
My first reaction was, “eh, another lawsuit. Anyone can make up claims.” But when I read the article and saw that Brandon paid himself a million dollar plus bonus two days before the bankruptcy filing (when the lawyers obviously were already drafting the papers), well, maybe they have something here. I don’t understand how anyone could do that in good conscience, and cannot imagine a bankruptcy judge letting that transfer stand.
I don’t understand how anyone could do that in good conscience.
Well there's your issue. Assuming someone like Brandon has any semblance of a conscience is like assuming politicians actually want to do what's best for people, i.e. crazy.
March 13th, 2020 at 11:52 AM ^
The bonus was supposed to be a “hedge” against a hostile takeover.
*wink, wink
Ah, the brilliant observations through the retrospectiscope!
Who, in their right mind, would think a successful CEO from an Ann Arbor based company, someone actively involved and already connected to the University, a former Regent, who was also a former player, would be good choice for AD?
Fucking almost everybody.
What a moronic post.
March 13th, 2020 at 10:01 AM ^
Actually, only Mary Sue Coleman.
The Regents didn't want to pick him but Coleman wore them down.
March 13th, 2020 at 12:38 PM ^
Who did the Regents want, instead ?
Rumor was that Brandon wore her down, too, if you catch my drift. Arrrrrooooooo!
Rumor was that Brandon wore her down, too, if you catch my drift. Arrrrrooooooo!
March 13th, 2020 at 11:23 AM ^
Yes, who could have possibly foreseen that hiring a narcissistic egomaniac, who did nothing notable at Dominos and had no experience running an AD, would be a bad idea? Who could have foreseen that treating a nonprofit sports program like a Fortune 500 business is rather silly when your clients are athletes and fans, not shareholders?
This is the guy who said of the Harbaugh vs. Hoke decision, “all that is gold does not glitter.” If Mary Sue really thought he was a good AD at that point, she was looking through greenback colored glasses. Her legacy for sports is 1) deciding the Bball program should commit Seppoku for infractions that no one even bats an eye at these days, and 2) helping to crater the football program.
March 13th, 2020 at 12:03 PM ^
Well, in theory, a business' clients are. . . the clients. But I get that's not how it's done anymore.
March 13th, 2020 at 12:50 PM ^
Who could have foreseen that treating a nonprofit sports program
The reality is the Michigan Athletic Department is indeed a business; the AD:
- Operates in the black
- Reimburses the University for scholarships
- It supports over two dozen other subsidiaries -- most of which don't have revenue streams
- It makes capital investments (re: facilities own/rather than lease)
That my friend is a unicorn in the college athletics landscape and doesn't all happen unless it's indeed treated like a corporation.
Please don't confuse that Brandon's ego is his own worst enemy versus bringing in a business person as the chief executive (the Director) of an organization (the Athletic Department).
Who could have foreseen that treating a nonprofit sports program like a Fortune 500 business is rather silly when your clients are athletes and fans, not shareholders?
This is just my opinion, but it really seems like corporate management in the last 15-20 years or so has gone away from even treating the clients all that well.
When I first started working, it was drilled into me that my focus was the customer. Customer satisfaction and customer service were huge. We had to make money, yes, but we made it by winning customers. And employees were valued because better employess = better product = more customers.
Now, the focus is on cost cutting and efficiency; even if the result of such cost cutting will plainly lead to worse results for the customer. But it doesn't really matter because no one else is focusing on the customer like they used to.
It's frustrating. I end up doing extra work on my own time to keep standards up as much as I can.
I don't know if this is just the business zeitgeist, a new direction in business schools, or just happenstance.
March 13th, 2020 at 11:47 AM ^
Successful CEO at Domino’s my ass.
The most charitable thing you can say about Brandon’s time there was that at least he left before his decisions completely ran the company out of business.
Domino’s suffered major damage to their reputation under his reign. So much so that, when Patrick Doyle became CEO, he had to essentially undo everything Brandon did just to keep the company from going under.
FFS, one of Doyle’s very first moves as CEO was to make a commercial where he personally admitted the quality of their ingredients sucks, the pizza tastes like shit, and begged costumers to please give them another chance because he was changing everything.
Doyle is considered one of the best CEO in the restaurant industry and, if you look at the shape Domino’s was in at the end of Doyle’s tenure vs. when he took over, it’s startling just how horrible Brandon was.
March 13th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
Dave Brandon is VERY successful. The institutions put under his wings, not so much.
But that's considered desirable by his employers. He's the guy you hire when you decide your kid would be more profitable if sold for spare organs.
The most astoundingly stupid person in all this had to be Coleman. Hiring Brandon makes sense if you're a psychopathic investor looking to plunder a hostile takeover until all that's left is a charred corpse. She wanted Brandon to run an institution. She basically hired a hitman as a nanny!
March 13th, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
You are correct, of course. When it comes to getting his, regardless of the lives ruined and chaos life in his wake, Brandon is astonishingly successful.
March 13th, 2020 at 12:44 PM ^
The MGoGroupThink isn't going to be kind to you for daring to speak the truth.
March 13th, 2020 at 10:18 AM ^
Once upon a time a talented group of people came together to dream, and to design and build a toy store like no other. The husk of Toys 'R' Us is the culmination of the work of those gifted people who spent years looting it for all it was worth so that they could live...Happily Ever After.
March 13th, 2020 at 11:06 AM ^
It sounds like they ripped off creditors, not employees. The company would have gone bankrupt anyways. But instead of Loans R' Us getting Dave Brandon's bonus, Dave Brandon got it.
March 13th, 2020 at 11:19 AM ^
It was not a healthy company. Taking other approaches may have kept the company extant (albeit much smaller) and employing. Steering swiftly into planned bankruptcy also eliminated employee jobs earlier.
I would say they ripped off both employees and creditors.
March 13th, 2020 at 12:40 PM ^
Right, but he and Bain smelled blood in the water, and pounced... No other way about it...
March 13th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
Bain Capital, if you please.
March 13th, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
You said it perfectly, bo_lives.... Gordon Gekko.....
March 13th, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
Greed is bad and Dave Brandon is an awful human being.
Yep.
When the new CEO makes a commercial where he personally says “We’re so sorry our product is such utter crap. Please give me a chance to fix it.” It’s a pretty safe bet the company didn’t exactly have the best leadership previously.
it's gotten to the point where i can no longer tell if this country/culture is corrupt as fuck or lame as fuck
or both?