Men's Wearhouse創(chuàng)始人被掃地出門(mén)背后的故事
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????出現(xiàn)了什么變化？ ????先來(lái)說(shuō)說(shuō)一個(gè)事實(shí)。我再也不會(huì)上電視說(shuō)：“你一定會(huì)喜歡你自己的樣子，我保證。”幾百位顧客在街上攔住我，問(wèn)我究竟發(fā)生了什么事。對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，這是一種非常尷尬的境地，因?yàn)樗麄兏惺艿搅艘环N聯(lián)系。在惠普爾先生或其他廣告人物身上，許多人感受不到這種聯(lián)系。所以，簡(jiǎn)單來(lái)說(shuō)，這家公司現(xiàn)在面臨一個(gè)品牌問(wèn)題。這個(gè)問(wèn)題只會(huì)進(jìn)一步惡化，而不是好轉(zhuǎn)。 ????此外，在我看來(lái)，公司文化也跟過(guò)去不一樣了。但事實(shí)是，好幾年來(lái)，這家公司一直在隨波逐流。 ????你被解雇后，外界有傳言稱(chēng)，你想回購(gòu)這家公司。你有沒(méi)有進(jìn)行過(guò)相關(guān)的磋商？ ????早在6月份，就有不少大型私募股權(quán)公司主動(dòng)聯(lián)系我，希望探討這種可能性。我的回答是，我當(dāng)然會(huì)考慮。但隨著時(shí)間的推移，尤其是Jos. A. Bank在幾個(gè)月前參與進(jìn)來(lái)之后——收購(gòu)價(jià)并沒(méi)有高估，但的確估足了——我開(kāi)始打退堂鼓。 ????設(shè)想一下，你聯(lián)系一家公司的創(chuàng)始人，要求他支付一大筆錢(qián)以重返以前的工作崗位。而在此前的6到12個(gè)月中，這家公司一直在走向他不認(rèn)同的方向。所以，我最終根本無(wú)法說(shuō)服自己做出肯定的回復(fù)。盡管我與私募股權(quán)基金討論過(guò)其他商業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)，但我真的不想再次卷入The Men's Wearhouse的事務(wù)了。 ????10月份，Jos. A. Bank對(duì)The Men's Wearhouse提出收購(gòu)要約。The Men's Wearhouse不止是拒絕了這項(xiàng)提議，還轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身來(lái)對(duì)Jos. A Bank展開(kāi)收購(gòu)。當(dāng)這場(chǎng)收購(gòu)大戰(zhàn)開(kāi)始時(shí)，你作何反應(yīng)？ ????我最初感到驚訝，但隨后開(kāi)始認(rèn)為，這樣做有很充足的理由。早在10年前，The Men's Wearhouse就討論過(guò)要不要收購(gòu)Jos. A. Bank，幾年前又產(chǎn)生了這個(gè)想法。出于很多原因，對(duì)于Jos. A. Bank來(lái)說(shuō)，收購(gòu)The Men's Wearhouse很有意義，但The Men's Wearhouse收購(gòu)Jos. A. Bank也同樣如此。兩家公司都沒(méi)有任何債務(wù)，而且鑒于目前的利率，再也沒(méi)有比現(xiàn)在更好的時(shí)機(jī)了。 ????我目前所持立場(chǎng)的美妙之處在于，除了我擁有的大約100萬(wàn)股The Men's Wearhouse股票之外，我真的不關(guān)心這檔事。如果一定要我下注的話，我覺(jué)得這筆交易順利完成的可能性還是挺大的，2比1吧。 |
????What's different? ????Let's start with the fact that I'm not on TV saying "You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it." Hundreds of people, customers, have stopped me on the street to ask what happened. It's a very awkward situation for me, because they felt a connection. Maybe it's not unlike how many of us felt a connection to Mr. Whipple or other advertising figureheads. So the simple answer is that the company has a brand problem that will get worse, not better. ????It also seems to me that the company's culture is different, but the truth is that it's been drifting for several years. ????After your termination, there was speculation that you wanted to buy the company back. Did you have those conversations? ????Back in June there were a number of large private equity companies that approached me about exactly that. My answer was that I'd certainly consider it. As time went on, though -- and particularly since Jos. A. Bank got involved a couple of months ago -- the price got ... not overpriced, but fully valued. ????So to come to the founder of a business and ask him to pay up for having your old job back after six to 12 months of the company going in a direction I don't agree with, in the end I just couldn't bring myself to say yes. Even though I've talked to private equity people about other business opportunities, I'm not really thinking about being involved in The Men's Wearhouse anymore. ????Jos. A. Bank offered to buy The Men's Wearhouse in October. The Men's Wearhouse said no and then turned around to offered to buy Jos. A Bank. What was your reaction when all of this began? ????I was initially surprised, but then I began to think it made a lot of sense. The Men's Wearhouse had talked about buying Jos. A. Bank 10 years ago and then again a couple of years ago. For many reasons it makes a lot of sense for Jos. A. Bank to buy The Men's Wearhouse, but also for The Men's Wearhouse to buy Jos. A. Bank. Neither company has any debt, and it's never been a better time in terms of interest rates. ????The beauty of my current position is that I don't really care, except that I have around 1 million shares of The Men's Wearhouse stock. If forced to make a bet, I'd say 2-to-1 that a deal is going to get done. |
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