Friday, January 13, 2012

BAIN and ROMNEY

The issue of Mitt Romney , Bain Capital and the American business system seems to be front and center for Newt Gingrich and the Occupy Wall Street crowd including the NYT.
It is impossible to exaggerate the colossal depth of ignorance reflected by Newt Gingrich ( surprisingly ) and Rick Perry ( not surprisingly ) as they mirror the always profoundly stupid national media regarding the Bain controversy. The ignorance of Newt Gingrich is particularly apalling as one would assume he knows the reality and can distinguish it from the politically motivated diatribes of the DNC, the NY Times , Barack Obama, et al. But he has signed on to the anti capitalist bandwagon, perhaps hoping to take a run at the Democratic nomination if he fails in the GOP.
Recently, the NYT ran an article, as a follow up to Gingrich's Sheldon Adelson sponsored acquisition of the film " When Bain Came to Town ". Most of the media have picked up on the NYT story and the anti Bain / Romney film, including Andrew Sullivan in The Daily Beast . All reprint the main points of the article and the film without the remotest effort to actually CHECK REAL FACTS.
So, in a futile effort, to discuss what actually happened .....and provide an insight for these political and journalism clowns , I submit the following. Bear in mind that Romney was at Bain from 1984 to 1998 :

The Daily Beast and Andrew Sullivan excerpt the following from the NYT story:

Bain invested 22 % of the money it raised from 1987 to 1995 in five businesses and made $ 578 million in profit. Sullivan then goes on to identify FOUR companies and about $ 300 million in profit, on about $ 200 million in investment. I'm sure he knows the fifth and just forgot it from the NYT. But, here are the four:

1. STAGE STORES
Bain invested $ 5 million in 1988.
The company went public in 1996 and Bain took a nice profit of $ 100 million and left.
The company went through bankruptcy reorganization in 2000, four years after Bain left.
Romney and Bain are held responsible for the bankruptcy that occurred 4
years after they left . The bankruptcy allowed Stage Stores to restructure,
close
under performing Bealls Stores and performance substantially
improved. Today, Stage Stores has 13,000 employees in 40 states and had
sales of $ 1.5 billion in 2011
.
So, Romney should get the credit for 13,000 employees if he is blamed for a bankruptcy
he was totally unassociated with. right NEWT ???. You know, it's really about the
money. Newt doesn't like Romney and Bain's return on their invested capital even
though Gingrich took $ 2 million from taxpayers through Freddie Mac without any
capital at risk . How about a file on " When Newt Came to Town ?"

2. Case 2 from Sullivan and the NYT..... AMPAD
The anti Bain film has several distraught former employees of AMPAD railing against
the greedy capitalists who bought their company and lost their jobs. It is sad....but what
happened is the stress of an American business system that made this the richest
country in the world. we are not Sweden or Finland. As Jefferson said, let facts be
submitted to a candid world.....

1. Bain invested $ 5 million in a holding company that bought AMPAD from Mead
paper in 1992. The new management team consolidated 13 manufacturing and
distribution plants into 6, created a 53 % compound annual growth rate and took
revenues from $ 8.8 million in 1992 to $ 200 million in 1996.
2. The company went public in 1996 and Bain collected a profit of $ 100 million
dollars....and left.
3. Four years after Bain left, the company reorganized under bankruptcy
law and is still
operating profitably having been acquired by a foreign
company. Bain had ZERO to
do with these poor sad film folks losing their
jobs. So, again, it is the return on
invested capital that Gingrich and his
friends at the NYT and the media , like Michael
Moore, don't like.

3. GS TECHNOLOGIES
1. Bain acquired control , with GE Capital of GS Technologies in 1993 by investing $
60 million.
2. Bain and GE subsequently invested $ 100 million to improve and upgrade
facilities. This is , of course, unmentioned in the NYT hit piece and in the film
3. GS went through bankruptcy in 2001. Bain and GE both incurred substantial
losses on their invested capital
4. Bain also invested, at the same time, in Steel Dynamics, a similar company that is a
global leader today with revenues of $ 6 billion. Steel Dynamics and GS Industries
also have one glaring difference. GS Industries was a union shop and Steel
Dynamics is not

4. DETAILS, now owned by Steelcase
1. Acquired by Bain and other investors in 1997 for $ 46 million
2. Went public in 1998; Bain took nice profit of $ 93 million and left
3. Details went through bankruptcy restructure in 2003 , five years after Bain
4. Company is currently owned by Steelcase

There are some other relevant investments that the NYT and Sullivan overlook:
1. Bain invested $ 1 billion in Dominos Pizza in 1998. Dominos had 1000 stores and
16,000 employees. Dominos now has 9000 stores and 145,000 employees and is
worth $ 1.5 billion.

2. Bain invested in Sports Authority in 1987. Sports Authority now has 250 stores

3. Bain acquired financially ailing Sealy mattress in 1997. Sealy restructured and now
has 5000 employees and $ 300 million in annual revenue.

4. Bain invested in 200 + other companies including AMC Entertainment,
Bombardier, Bright Horizons, Burlington Coat, Church's Chicken, Clear Channel
Communications, Dominos, Gymboree, Harlem Globetrotters, Latrobe Specialty
Steel, LinkedIn, Minute Clinic, Staples, The Weather Channel, Toys R Us , Vonage
and about 190 more.

Isn't this what American business is all about ?What has Gingrich invested
in....except Gingrich?

CraigS

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8 comments:

Doug NYC GOP said...

BRAVO CRAIG,

It's great to see this argument spill out onto the debate stage and expose envious, spiteful and emptyheaded political oppurtunists like Gingrich, Perry, Palin and the DNC, for the morally bankrupt charlatans they are.

All these folks who made their quick money through political celebrity or guile don't know what real work truly is.

This is big time CAPITALISM which drives the economy and creates wealth for investors.

This ain't a Mickey Mouse consulting company or a two-bit fishing barge.

Machtyn said...

Thank you for taking the time to detail these investments. Mike Sage did an excellent pirate speak version, but the details that you've included put some weight behind the entire argument. This article goes in my quiver.

Anonymous said...

Yes, thanks Craig. Nice work.

I hope the Romney team finds a way to get the truth out.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

I saw a link to one of the San Francisco newspapers, of all places, that actually debunked the movie about Bain. It was recommended through a chat box, and even with my limited knowledge, I have found a link to it. I think you may find this interesting:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/01/11/bloomberg_articlesLXMDQC1A1I4H.DTL

Sorry I don't know how to activate the link!

AZ

Ohio JOE said...

"It is impossible to exaggerate the colossal depth of ignorance reflected by Newt Gingrich ( surprisingly ) and Rick Perry........ " You guys miss the whole. Yes, Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Perry are stupid and dishonest about Bain, but so is Mr. Romney. So it is a loss loss. Both sides have acted stupidly in this pissing contest.

craigs said...

OJ......Exactly what has Romney been "dishonest and stupid" about regarding Bain? Do you not understand that lots of VC companies go belly up and fail.....and the participants go into something more stable like journalism or politics ? Putting $100 million of borrowed cash into a steel company like GS Technology and then having the company fail....means you lose your $100 million. Do this several times and you get fired.
What part of Bains experience do you find stupid and dishonest ?

CraigS

JS said...

I think in this debate Romney's modesty is sure to come out. He hasn't spoken much of his past so many assume it is dark and greedy. Instead the more they dig the more they may find to like. He DID have a hand in creating and/or preserving over 100,000 jobs. He DID turn failing enterprises around. He IS tough as nails at cutting waste and making hard decisions. He DOES deeply believe in free market principles. He DIDN'T take some exorbitant salary for much of his work. He HAS managed to win the respect of large swaths of people who wanted results not words.

JS said...

This is not "vulture" capitalism. Vultures lay back and wait until the poor creature dies then swoop in to pick the dead remains. Bain gets involved by invitation and by putting THEIR money in when there is still a life to save. Instead of a vulture it may be better to use the analogy of a doctor attempting every possible measure to save the life of the afflicted. Does the doctor get paid if his patient dies despite his own best efforts? If not, as Gingrich and Perry want, no doctor would assume that risk and we would all suffer.