個案總覽

In the largest attempted employee-buyout in history, a large U.S. commercial airline seeks substantial wage concessions from its employees in return for 53% stake in the airline's common stock and guaranteed seats on the board of directors. Management must convince employees, shareholders, Wall Street analysts, and the media that the buyout makes sense from value, operating, and strategic perspectives.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 295114

A new CEO is hired to manage the turnaround of a family-owned newspaper publisher. In a departure from previous management, he implements a new compensation scheme that explicitly ties executive pay to market-value-based measures of firm performance. Because the company is not publicly traded, payoffs under the executive compensation plan are based on the firm's appraised value. Determining a value for this company (including any value created by the turnaround manager) is a complicated exercise. Additional complications arise because the firm's value also determines potential cash distributions to family members who wish to sell their shares back to the company. Certain family goals may also be inconsistent with the CEO's objective of maximizing the present value of the firm's assets.

As a consequence of laying off half its workforce in a massive downsizing program, the company--a large manufacturer of medium and heavy trucks--struggles with a huge ($2.6 billion) liability for retiree medical costs. Although the company has promised its retirees (and their families) full lifetime medical coverage, it must negotiate a substantial reduction in these benefits to avoid bankruptcy.