Ansett brass spooked Stokes
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Ansett brass spooked Stokes
If this doesn't say it all. The sooner those scum across the water are out of business the better. Come on QANTAS buy em out. How do managers at this level, absolutley SCREW up such a good business as ANSETT. And if the one with balls, didn't dig them out of their own crap, AIR NZ would be out of the game by now. You never know, it could still happen.
Ansett brass spooked Stokes
By GEOFF EASDOWN
20jun02
MEDIA and business magnate Kerry Stokes has broken his silence on why he turned down a $500 million deal to buy and revive Ansett.
The Channel 7 chief said yesterday he walked away from the deal because the airline lacked effective and proper management.
"I was disappointed that the Ansett management did not seem to have the wherewithal or the commitment to get the planes flying immediately," Mr Stokes said.
The airline's then most senior Air New Zealand executive was said to have been more concerned about providing inflight catering than putting planes in the air.
In a robust exchange on this issue on September 17 last year in Ansett's 17th floor Melbourne boardroom, Mr Stokes snapped: "We can have McDonald's deliver hamburgers. People won't want food. They will just want seats on a competitive airline."
Yesterday Mr Stokes was scathing in his assessment. "I have never come across management of such a substantial company that was so poor."
He said the most impressive person in the Ansett management team was the woman in charge of corporate relations, Heather Jeffrey.
He said she was "the only one who could answer the questions we were asking.
"She really tried to answer questions, like costs per hour."
Mr Stokes yesterday admitted his involvement after he learned it was to be unmasked in a soon-to-be-published book, Ansett - the collapse.
The self-made billionaire's attempt to buy the airline through his investment group Australian Capital Equity has been one of the country's best kept corporate secrets.
Late last year Mr Stokes' official spokesman denied his group's involvement.
The Herald Sun had learned that ACE was initially prepared to bid up to $500 million for Ansett - $100 million more than offered later by businessmen Lindsay Fox and Solomon Lew.
The Stokes team arrived at Ansett headquarters in three cars at 11am on September 17 last year - three days after the planes were grounded.
The party was secretly escorted through the basement carpark and taken direct to the 17th floor executive suite, bypassing normal security procedures.
Senior staff from Air New Zealand and Ansett, as well as union officials, were warned that if news leaked, the likelihood of a Stokes bid would disappear.
Herald Sun
Ansett brass spooked Stokes
By GEOFF EASDOWN
20jun02
MEDIA and business magnate Kerry Stokes has broken his silence on why he turned down a $500 million deal to buy and revive Ansett.
The Channel 7 chief said yesterday he walked away from the deal because the airline lacked effective and proper management.
"I was disappointed that the Ansett management did not seem to have the wherewithal or the commitment to get the planes flying immediately," Mr Stokes said.
The airline's then most senior Air New Zealand executive was said to have been more concerned about providing inflight catering than putting planes in the air.
In a robust exchange on this issue on September 17 last year in Ansett's 17th floor Melbourne boardroom, Mr Stokes snapped: "We can have McDonald's deliver hamburgers. People won't want food. They will just want seats on a competitive airline."
Yesterday Mr Stokes was scathing in his assessment. "I have never come across management of such a substantial company that was so poor."
He said the most impressive person in the Ansett management team was the woman in charge of corporate relations, Heather Jeffrey.
He said she was "the only one who could answer the questions we were asking.
"She really tried to answer questions, like costs per hour."
Mr Stokes yesterday admitted his involvement after he learned it was to be unmasked in a soon-to-be-published book, Ansett - the collapse.
The self-made billionaire's attempt to buy the airline through his investment group Australian Capital Equity has been one of the country's best kept corporate secrets.
Late last year Mr Stokes' official spokesman denied his group's involvement.
The Herald Sun had learned that ACE was initially prepared to bid up to $500 million for Ansett - $100 million more than offered later by businessmen Lindsay Fox and Solomon Lew.
The Stokes team arrived at Ansett headquarters in three cars at 11am on September 17 last year - three days after the planes were grounded.
The party was secretly escorted through the basement carpark and taken direct to the 17th floor executive suite, bypassing normal security procedures.
Senior staff from Air New Zealand and Ansett, as well as union officials, were warned that if news leaked, the likelihood of a Stokes bid would disappear.
Herald Sun
Evertonian
Thanks for thinking of us Kerry.
Well, finally, another business person has confirmed what AN staff have said for over 20 years.
My brother in law used to think I whinged excessively about AN management until he was sub contracted by AN. Couldn't believe I was telling the truth!
Don't be too harsh on a few inept kiwis java...not even Moses could raise that Titanic!!
My brother in law used to think I whinged excessively about AN management until he was sub contracted by AN. Couldn't believe I was telling the truth!
Don't be too harsh on a few inept kiwis java...not even Moses could raise that Titanic!!
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Give us a break....!
........a book about the collapse of Ansett.
Next we'll hear the author is Geoff Easdown and proceeds will be going to the Essendon Football Club for next season's draft.
If a publisher is brave enough, the book will be like TESNA -
IT WILL NEVER GET OFF THE GROUND!
Next we'll hear the author is Geoff Easdown and proceeds will be going to the Essendon Football Club for next season's draft.
If a publisher is brave enough, the book will be like TESNA -
IT WILL NEVER GET OFF THE GROUND!
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Not for one moment do I believe Stokes was thinking of AN or its people when he made the bid. Like all businessmen, his priorities would have been the bottom line. Sure, we would have had continued employment, or some of us would, but would there have been sufficient capital injection to ensure fleet updates as required, or would it have been more of the same as we had from Abeles, Murdoch and AirNZ?
What was the reason for the enforced secrecy, with the attendant threat to pull out on disclosure? Loss of "street cred" with his peers in the business world? If Kerry had had the guts for the job, what stopped him going ahead? Don't, please, tell me it was the unions/IR history; and if it was the poor management he saw, then why not buy the company, resurrect it THEN SACK 'EM? I'm sure it's a concept not totally foreign to one in his putative position. What did M&M know that the rest of us didn't? There's more to this than meets the eye, I'm sure.
AN brass spooked all of us, not just Stokes, but no-one ever listened! As for "that Titanic" Buster, there was more than enough evidence of iceberg activity LONG, LONG before September last, we should not have sunk in the first place. It surely wasn't the helm that the management of that ship had their hands on for many years before!!
Whiskery: Easdown is a journalist of no mean stature, don't be too eager to rubbish him or his work. I know OF him through a mutual friend, just haven't met him.
Kind regards,
TheNightOwl.
What was the reason for the enforced secrecy, with the attendant threat to pull out on disclosure? Loss of "street cred" with his peers in the business world? If Kerry had had the guts for the job, what stopped him going ahead? Don't, please, tell me it was the unions/IR history; and if it was the poor management he saw, then why not buy the company, resurrect it THEN SACK 'EM? I'm sure it's a concept not totally foreign to one in his putative position. What did M&M know that the rest of us didn't? There's more to this than meets the eye, I'm sure.
AN brass spooked all of us, not just Stokes, but no-one ever listened! As for "that Titanic" Buster, there was more than enough evidence of iceberg activity LONG, LONG before September last, we should not have sunk in the first place. It surely wasn't the helm that the management of that ship had their hands on for many years before!!
Whiskery: Easdown is a journalist of no mean stature, don't be too eager to rubbish him or his work. I know OF him through a mutual friend, just haven't met him.
Kind regards,
TheNightOwl.
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It is off the ground
Whiskery - the book is already written. Publisher was on board before the book was written. Sometimes publishers commission books to be written.
Just maybe, it will answer some previously unanswered questions.
Just maybe, it will answer some previously unanswered questions.
Evertonian
TNO...when those previous 2 clowns took the helm, it was hard to starboard & flank speed for the ice floes...she was doomed from then as no one dared turn her.
You sit back with 20/20 hindsight & see ridiculous decisions in the light of her ultimate end. There are many examples, but I think the FE's jobs for life guarantee was perhaps the most glaring. Why would you agree to such lunacy if you wanted to run the company ad infinitum? He agreed because he knew it would be, "someone elses problem." I don't mean to slight the FE's, having said that. If my union said they could get a deal like that, I'd jump at it too.
Tesna's award conditions were just history repeating itself. Again, those high wages were never going to be FLEW's problem.
If the book doesn't start at the early 80's, I'm not bothering. We need to see the full story, not the "greatest hits"!!!
You sit back with 20/20 hindsight & see ridiculous decisions in the light of her ultimate end. There are many examples, but I think the FE's jobs for life guarantee was perhaps the most glaring. Why would you agree to such lunacy if you wanted to run the company ad infinitum? He agreed because he knew it would be, "someone elses problem." I don't mean to slight the FE's, having said that. If my union said they could get a deal like that, I'd jump at it too.
Tesna's award conditions were just history repeating itself. Again, those high wages were never going to be FLEW's problem.
If the book doesn't start at the early 80's, I'm not bothering. We need to see the full story, not the "greatest hits"!!!
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Riveting stuff?
I was aware of a publisher's draft, some months ago, titled "Death of an Icon" by Peter Wilms and Geoff Easdown. If this is now a book, detailing the demise of Ansett, well good luck to all concerned.
No problem with Geoff Easdown the journalist - but author? I would have preferred Terry McCrann because he leaves no stone unturned.
If it sells more than 16,000 copies I shall stand corrected, but at this stage,IMHO, reading about a poorly managed, assett stripped airline going under, is not my idea of a great book!
No problem with Geoff Easdown the journalist - but author? I would have preferred Terry McCrann because he leaves no stone unturned.
If it sells more than 16,000 copies I shall stand corrected, but at this stage,IMHO, reading about a poorly managed, assett stripped airline going under, is not my idea of a great book!
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Interesting comment from Sydney Airport forum:
It was reported back at the time when PWC was still administrating that they had found a buyer within one week who were willing to take 10,000 of the 16,000 staff. Apparently this deal was scuttled due to angst by the ACTU that the 10,000 staff were going onto workplace contracts mitigating the union power. More importantly for the ACTU, it would mean that Virgin and now this airline were on contracts which gave Qantas better leverage to move down the same path effectively mitigating the value of the ACTU in aviation.
Does this Stokes announcement then:
1. Indicate that it was in fact Stokes who was the interested party and that the "overseas consortium" was just a smokescreen?
2. Was Stokes' offer in addition to the previously declared offer in the first week?
3. Was Stokes unhappiness in Ansett management only part of the reason for him pulling out or were there union issues involved as well?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regards, Brendan
It was reported back at the time when PWC was still administrating that they had found a buyer within one week who were willing to take 10,000 of the 16,000 staff. Apparently this deal was scuttled due to angst by the ACTU that the 10,000 staff were going onto workplace contracts mitigating the union power. More importantly for the ACTU, it would mean that Virgin and now this airline were on contracts which gave Qantas better leverage to move down the same path effectively mitigating the value of the ACTU in aviation.
Does this Stokes announcement then:
1. Indicate that it was in fact Stokes who was the interested party and that the "overseas consortium" was just a smokescreen?
2. Was Stokes' offer in addition to the previously declared offer in the first week?
3. Was Stokes unhappiness in Ansett management only part of the reason for him pulling out or were there union issues involved as well?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regards, Brendan
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SAID IT BEFORE, WILL SAY IT AGAIN. YOU CAN THANK THE UNIONS AND THE TWO TWITS M AND M FOR NO ANSETT. YES IT WAS BAD MANAGEMENT THAT CAUSED THE WHOLE COLLAPSE IN THE FIRST PLACE, BUT THE UNIONS AND THE TWO TWITS M AND M, CAN BE THANKED FOR NOT GETTING THE AIRLINE UP AND RUNNING AGAIN. THE UNIONS IN THIS COUNTRY REALLY F@$k ME OFF.
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Java: Then perhaps it is time to take note of your feelings towards the Oz unions, act on them and do precisely as they make you feel. Who knows, we may ALL feel better for your departure!
I'm an ex-AN employee, one who did all that was humanly possible for me to do in my department, but Management managed to wreck the company, not me, not my colleagues, and CERTAINLY not the unions.
Kind regards,
TheNIghtOwl.
I'm an ex-AN employee, one who did all that was humanly possible for me to do in my department, but Management managed to wreck the company, not me, not my colleagues, and CERTAINLY not the unions.
Kind regards,
TheNIghtOwl.
