Played Out
“It would be hard to pin these failures on any one reason. Each company had its own pathologies”
IT’S A SAD THING when a company goes down, leaving thousands of people without jobs. Consider the human wreckage resulting from Foster & Gallagher’s disintegration.
Many of these fine employees worked there when Tom Foster was still alive and in charge. They were there when he converted the firm from just another gift cataloger into a horticulture marketer, one of the most brilliant strategic moves ever seen in this field.
They were there on that happy day when he turned ownership of the company over to the employees. And they were there to see the collapse of their ESOP, and the firm itself, and the soiling of that grand name.
Then there was Garden Way, which produced many great direct marketers before it managed to bury itself. And Pryor Resources, the venerable old seminar company (see story on page 14).
It would be hard to pin these failures on any one reason — i.e., overspending on dot-com ventures. Each company had its own pathologies. Whatever ailed them, though, was aggravated 100 times during the downturn.
One bankruptcy that did seem related to online excess was that of Impower. It went through $21 million in venture capital, and then started to implode. Happily, it is still operating.
If there’s a lesson there, it’s that the skills it takes to run a damned good list company don’t necessarily travel well into the world of venture start-ups.
And how about Dimac Direct? Just how do you end up with debts of $100 million?
Of course, bankruptcies weren’t the only bad news this summer. Many firms cut their staffs by hundreds or even thousands of people, and there were many smaller bloodlettings, although they generally don’t impress Wall Street unless they hit a certain number — say, 850.
It is all so tiresome and repetitive. Is there a single CEO who resisted dot-com mania, refrained from blathering, and is now holding on to his or her staff?
It’s often said that we vultures of the press savor firings and bankruptcies. But that’s only partially true.
We do tend to have a nose for corporate necrosis, but that doesn’t mean we get pleasure from it. Hell, we’re wage slaves, too — and probably more vulnerable than most.
And we can’t wait for this rotten time to be over.
