United Airlines CEO threatens mass layoffs unless the federal government bails them out

[Phokus]

Someone else posted this in another thread, but this definitely deserves it's own thread:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1241092963989688327

I'm all for bailing out the airlines, on the condition that the current shareholders take a massive haircut, the government gets all current shares outstanding, the companies are no longer ever allowed to buy back stock, the CEO and top executives have their pay and bonuses clawed back from the last several years and the current executives are all fired on the spot without any severance package.


There's a lot of government owned airlines anyway, so it's not that unusual for the federal government to own them:

Category:Government-owned airlines - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[UberNeuman]

Rope is cheap.

 

[dank69]

Rope is cheap.

Pitchforks too.

 

[IronWing]

Bailing out the airlines won’t make people fly. Layoffs are coming with or without the cash. Bail out the employees instead of the shareholders.

 

[UberNeuman]

Bailing out the airlines won’t make people fly. Layoffs are coming with or without the cash. Bail out the employees instead of the shareholders.

I'm all for what Phokus is suggesting - but this just seems like another big pig trying to get at the teat for more.

 

[1prophet]

This why Obama should have put the fools behind the last recession in jail instead of a slap on the hand at best and a don't do it again scolding, now they are emboldened with the arrogant bail us out because we are too big to fail and we will tank the economy attitude.

Let them start at the top by cutting their pay/compensation no matter what "hide it from the tax man" creative financing package they reward themselves with before they lay off employees and only in proportion to their pay cuts, in this case 60% from their own mouths.

 

[Exterous]

United is for forcasting they will lose at least $2.5B in revenue (not profit) in April alone. I'm not aware of too many companies that keep cash on hand to sustain 70-90% drop in revenue. I'm not against some strings to bailouts but let's not get overzealous

 

[Jhhnn]

United is for forcasting they will lose at least $2.5B in revenue (not profit) in April alone. I'm not aware of too many companies that keep cash on hand to sustain 70-90% drop in revenue. I'm not against some strings to bailouts but let's not get overzealous

Chapter 11 is the answer.

UAL Stock: How the Mighty Have Fallen

United Airlines’ total return year to date through March 18 is -76%. UAL stock is down 32% relative to its airline peers. How low can it go?

investorplace.com

Put the money towards compensating the out of work & care for the sick & needy.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Screw the companies. Bailout the people who get laid off.

 

[m8d]

It seems socialism is the new rage in America.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

It seems socialism is the new rage in America.

Why is anything but pure capitalism (which we've never had) viewed as socialism?

 

[shortylickens]

This why Obama should have put the fools behind the last recession in jail instead of a slap on the hand at best and a don't do it again scolding, now they are emboldened with the arrogant bail us out because we are too big to fail and we will tank the economy attitude.

Let them start at the top by cutting their pay/compensation no matter what "hide it from the tax man" creative financing package they reward themselves with before they lay off employees and only in proportion to their pay cuts, in this case 60% from their own mouths.

Every other politician in America would have fought him and no one would have been prosecuted anyways.

 

[shortylickens]

Why is anything but pure capitalism (which we've never had) viewed as socialism?

Because Fox News says so and they are always right.
The brain washing has also convinced many people we dont have socialism already.

Roads, schools, many hospitals, welfare, police, fire, and a fuckload of other things have already been socialized, some of them for two hundred years.

 

[uclaLabrat]

It seems socialism is the new rage in America.

That's not socialism, idiot. The shareholders still own the company. You mean you dont want a strong safety net for people who had no say in the matter?

I can only presume you wan unfettered capitalism to reign, so the shareholders can lose their ass AND the employees can be laid off.

 

[zzyzxroad]

Bailing out the airlines won’t make people fly. Layoffs are coming with or without the cash. Bail out the employees instead of the shareholders.

Yeah, i don't see a good fix for this. No one knows when travel will resume but it going to be a while. Massive layoffs are coming no matter what.

 

[soulcougher73]

Let them fail then spend the money on the laid off people instead. Screw greedy companies that can’t ride out a recession Due to poor planning/management.

 

[uclaLabrat]

It really is ironic that people who claim to love free markets dont abhor the idea of stock buybacks. When the free market is supposed to be the arbiter of the success of your company, why not put your thumb on the scale and buy back stock because you think the market is undervaluing it?

Seems antithetic to me.

 

[zzyzxroad]

Let them fail then spend the money on the laid off people instead. Screw greedy companies that can’t ride out a recession Due to poor planning/management.

Seems like Delta isn't trying to demand a handout.

United Airlines To Washington: Bail Us Out Or We Lay Off Workers; Delta Ends Stock Buybacks And Dividend

United said it would have to cut its payroll in line with a 60% schedule reduction planned for April if the government didn't provide sufficient support by the end of March.

www.forbes.com

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Our airlines can go fuck themselves after they spent all their money on stock buybacks. It's not on us to make their upper level executives whole.

 

[Jhhnn]

That's not socialism, idiot. The shareholders still own the company. You mean you dont want a strong safety net for people who had no say in the matter?

I can only presume you wan unfettered capitalism to reign, so the shareholders can lose their ass AND the employees can be laid off.

Too late, my son. Giant worldwide corporate debt bubble meets covid19 pandemic. Poink. Investors flee bonds to liquidity & it all falls down. That's what the FRB & other central banks are trying to ease, likely with limited success. It's a systemic weakness left unresolved in the wake of the great recession.

 

[thilanliyan]

Nm

 

[Exterous]

Let them fail then spend the money on the laid off people instead. Screw greedy companies that can’t ride out a recession Due to poor planning/management.

This isn't remotely close to a recession for them. The previous "worst year in travel" was in 2009 and saw load factors at 75%. Load factors are currently in the single digit percents when including all the parked aircraft. This is a complete sessation of business that has never before been seen or come remotely close to.

Also letting them fail would be short sighted given the importance to the economy they represent. Leisure, business, Healthcare, mail, military all benefit from their existance, some significantly so. We (taxpayers) benefitted from the previous round of bailouts so a well structured bailout could be beneficial again.

 

[Fenixgoon]

This isn't remotely close to a recession for them. The previous "worst year in travel" was in 2009 and saw load factors at 75%. Load factors are currently in the single digit percents when including all the parked aircraft. This is a complete sessation of business that has never before been seen or come remotely close to.

Also letting them fail would be short sighted given the importance to the economy they represent. Leisure, business, Healthcare, mail, military all benefit from their existance, some significantly so. We (taxpayers) benefitted from the previous round of bailouts so a well structured bailout could be beneficial again.

I don't disagree, but getting there average person to buy into that when their inflation adjusted income is no better than like 1975 is a hard sell.

We continually privatize profits and socialize losses. At some point there needs to be a total shift in the way of thinking about how our economy works. Our current MO is completely unsustainable. This isn't something any one person can accomplish. It's going to take a cultural shift in what it means to run a company profitably and who its stakeholders really are (hint: not the shareholders)

 

[ponyo]

This isn't remotely close to a recession for them. The previous "worst year in travel" was in 2009 and saw load factors at 75%. Load factors are currently in the single digit percents when including all the parked aircraft. This is a complete sessation of business that has never before been seen or come remotely close to.

Also letting them fail would be short sighted given the importance to the economy they represent. Leisure, business, Healthcare, mail, military all benefit from their existance, some significantly so. We (taxpayers) benefitted from the previous round of bailouts so a well structured bailout could be beneficial again.

Tough shit. Lot of companies are in the same boat. Tell United to ask Uncle Warren for bailout. Warren Buffett owns 8.8% of United stock. Buffett has enough cash to easily float United until demand returns. But I'm sure his terms on bailout won't be nearly as nice as US government bailout.

I'm only for supporting the airlines after Chapter 11. Let United and others file for bankruptcy. Let the shareholders and management get 100% wiped out on their stock equity holdings first. Don't bailout Warren Buffett. He has the cash to save the airlines if that's what he wants. Buffett has been greedy since the '08 bailout and have been heavily investing in companies doing huge stock buybacks. It was almost as if that's all he cared about. Buffett profited heavily from all the massive stock buybacks. Let him now suffer.

No way we should bailout any airlines before Chapter 11. Let them fail first.

 

[shortylickens]

Let ONE airline collapse, as a lesson to their others.
Leave its corpse sitting out in the sun for a year, to remind them.