Rumblings from Within--4/1

I get a fair amount of email, a lot from employees that list specifics...that would get them terminated if I wasn't watching for it. But, then sometimes I get strategies, and pull ideas:

Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 23:03:17 -0800

Between you and me, I think that Hud has his hands full and he's not managing things very well.

1-6. --for later
7. Perhaps some pressure from the investors would promote another sale, maybe getting Capstone capital and Petra Capital (the Arcon investors out to the tune of $50 million) to talk to the current investors
8. The whole thing really DOES fall apart without Hud. If he wasn't in the picture the investors would force a sale of all the hospitals. I'm not saying he should be done in, but if we can somehow put some pressure on him, a few lawsuits against EACH of his hospitals may be enough for the investors to force a sale.
9. How many lives did he ruin with Arcon?
10. How loyal are his current executives? Can they go elsewhere, or are they also losers?

In order:
#7
Hud actually gives presentations on the changed climate for getting capitalization. With the changes in IPO requirements, I'd imagine that investment capital had to go somewhere, but the ROI has got to be far poorer.

#8
There is no way to really tell from the outside, but Vestar should have rumblings. The capitalization for the projects that E$$ent has committed to should be an indicator as to their willingness to prop Hud up...if the monies actually materialize. But, they have $80 million invested, so putting up some to save the current investment might be their plan. However, I'd look for delays in the projects.

#9
There were clinics that had just opened that year, so imagine starting work and being laid off with no notice. Nine facilities closed, I believe, and the month before, Hud was saying, "We believe that the company simply needs more time to allow its concept to mature and to grow its market share and revenue base." Time certainly wasn't on their side....

#10
Dropping one or two doesn't make you unemployable in their world, and I really think the exec shuffle is coming up. You may see some wanna-be's picked up--they would be the ones put into positions that their resumes don't justify. The trick is in the timing...too long and they might drop with the stock options, too short and it does them no good--and makes it look like the job was too much for them.

Several folks have dropped off the radar, and it might be other reasons, but generally they hit the news if only to calm investors. Maybe that's part of the reason for the "Hud and bud" show, crisis management.

Andrei Soran was top notch, then again, he pushed several programs that would have been excellent here...it's a shame he wasn't. It might be telling, however, that he bailed prior to committing to a building program that would have locked him in with E$$ent for the next five years. And, that he didn't take a corporate move-up. Or, he just wanted to stay in the Boston area... Framingham...in Feb???? Yeah, right! Butt deep in snow going around roundabouts!

The subject of unionization has cropped up. Fine, if we were in the Northeast. Here, we already have had two sales because of balance sheets. PRMC is weighted down with a lot of property that just isn't profitable. The insured/uninsured mix is poor. And now we throw in a union to deal with? This is a right-to-work state, and there are bound to be several opportunities for investment that don't have as many fleas. If E$$ent went defunct or just sold us, who would buy?

In a breakup, we would be far better in the long run...but short term...oh baby, those that live paycheck-to-paycheck would be slapped in the face--hard.