Dixon admits the obvious - Merged Thread

[Platy]

Dopey finally admits the absolutely obvious with his CEO tenure close to expiry. Remember folks that Dixon's share was $130m not the $70m he reckons he would have given to charity...

Qantas lucky $11bn takeover bid crashed, Geoff Dixon says | NEWS.com.au

"...RETIRING Qantas boss Geoff Dixon has admitted he is relieved that a private-equity takeover of the airline failed last year, despite strongly backing it at the time.
The issue was "clouded by emotion" because Qantas board members and management stood to make huge personal gains from the $11 billion deal, Mr Dixon told The Sunday Telegraph.
He had vowed to devote his $70 million cut to creating a charitable foundation.
Qantas would be in severe financial difficulty if the takeover by Airline Partners Australia had succeeded, because a key member of the consortium, Allco Finance Group, collapsed on November 4 with debts of more than $1.1 billion.
"..."The real Achilles heel was that it got very, very emo-tional - principally because I and the senior management team were going to earn tens of millions of dollars as part of it.


'Yeah, this is such a good offer it should be considered, but under no circumstances should the management be offered part of it."'

 

[bambbbam2]

Qantas lucky $11bn takeover bid crashed, Geoff Dixon says

So where is the Magaret Jackson apology for calling "anyone who opposed this deal 'idiots' "?

From
Qantas lucky $11bn takeover bid crashed, Geoff Dixon says | NEWS.com.au

RETIRING Qantas boss Geoff Dixon has admitted he is relieved that a private-equity takeover of the airline failed last year, despite strongly backing it at the time.

The issue was "clouded by emotion" because Qantas board members and management stood to make huge personal gains from the $11 billion deal, Mr Dixon told The Sunday Telegraph.

He had vowed to devote his $70 million cut to creating a charitable foundation.

Qantas would be in severe financial difficulty if the takeover by Airline Partners Australia had succeeded, because a key member of the consortium, Allco Finance Group, collapsed on November 4 with debts of more than $1.1 billion.

"It didn't happen, and I'm very pleased now it didn't happen," Mr Dixon said.

"It's a hard one to revisit. Still a bit raw, I think.

"The real issue I'd never repeat was having the management - myself and the management - involved in it.

"The real Achilles heel was that it got very, very emotional - principally because I and the senior management team were going to earn tens of millions of dollars as part of it.

"That's the way private equity works."

Other companies sold to private equity, such as Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, are struggling with huge debt repayments, but Mr Dixon said it was unlikely Qantas would have collapsed - even under the weight of Allco's problems.

"If I had my time again, I'd say (to the bidding consortium): 'Yeah, this is such a good offer it should be considered, but under no circumstances should the management be offered part of it'."

Instead, the consortium would have had to negotiate after the sale to keep any of the managers and directors it wanted, Mr Dixon said.

"I think people saw us as being compromised, despite the fact it was a good offer.

"It didn't happen, and I'm very pleased now that it didn't happen."

Mr Dixon said Qantas management deserved credit for having recovered quickly from the disappointment,
"I think lesser companies and a lesser management team could have imploded. There could have been real problems," he said.

Mr Dixon's final day as chief executive will be November 28, when he will hand over to Alan Joyce at the Qantas annual general meeting in Brisbane.

He will remain at Qantas until March next year as a consultant, and is planning to work in indigenous philanthropic ventures, as well as joining the board of the Garvan Foundation.

The foundation's fund-raising for medical research has a special resonance, as Mr Dixon's wife, Dawn, has Parkinson's disease.

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

The bleeding obvious.

 

[JohnK]

Re: Qantas lucky $11bn takeover bid crashed, Geoff Dixon says

Unbelievable! Not more than 18 months ago these so called experts in charge of Qantas were extremely disappointed that the takeover did not happen.

The majority saw the recommendation for a takeover as an uninformed, selfish decision and not in the best interests for Qantas. I guess we were right and we did not get paid for making enough noise to ensure the takeover failed. Most of the so called experts still have a job and get paid handsomely....

 

[simongr]

Re: Qantas lucky $11bn takeover bid crashed, Geoff Dixon says

I think that that the issues now with the takeover relate to the credit crunch and not the underlying business solution that was proposed. It seems more coincidence than a real issue.

 

[JohnK]

Re: Qantas lucky $11bn takeover bid crashed, Geoff Dixon says

Geoff Dixon himself feels that the proposed solution was flawed in a number of ways with one of these being the offer to the executives of a percentage of the takeover bid. There are other flaws but no point going back to a discussion that was over 18 months ago....

 

[simongr]

Re: Qantas lucky $11bn takeover bid crashed, Geoff Dixon says

Geoff Dixon himself feels that the proposed solution was flawed in a number of ways with one of these being the offer to the executives of a percentage of the takeover bid. There are other flaws but no point going back to a discussion that was over 18 months ago....

Actually that is not what he said. He said that the bonuses to management were a problem for the decision making process as they were too tied to the outcome. He actually said still that it was a good offer at the time.

 

[dajop]

Re: Qantas lucky $11bn takeover bid crashed, Geoff Dixon says

From the ongoing successful operation of the airline point of view, I am sure the bid was flawed. However for some individual shareholders, with the share price now declining to its current value $2.35, the crash of the takeover bid, may indeed represent a missed opportunity.

 

[Platy]

Re: Qantas lucky $11bn takeover bid crashed, Geoff Dixon says

From the ongoing successful operation of the airline point of view, I am sure the bid was flawed. However for some individual shareholders, with the share price now declining to its current value $2.35, the crash of the takeover bid, may indeed represent a missed opportunity.

Yes...but perhaps a missed opportunity to express outright greed!