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Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by bashtoni on Friday June 26, 2020 @07:36AM (#23650855)
I hadn't heard of Bain Capital previously, but this article certainly doesn't paint them in a good light: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/greed-an...
Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by drocer88 on Friday June 26, 2020 @09:01AM (#23651479)
This is a straight up political hit piece published in August 2012 a few months before the Presidential elections when Romney was a major party nominee.

"And the drama of this rhetorical high-wire act was ratcheted up even further when Romney chose his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin – like himself, a self-righteously anal, thin-lipped, Whitest Kids U Know penny pincher who’d be honored to tell Oliver Twist there’s no more soup left. By selecting Ryan, Romney, the hard-charging, chameleonic champion of a disgraced-yet-defiant Wall Street, officially succeeded in moving the battle lines in the 2012 presidential race."

The rhetoric and the journalism are hard to separate in this article.

Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by rapsey on Friday June 26, 2020 @07:53AM (#23650956)
Yeah Virgin is going to be hollowed out and sold for scrap.
Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by tomhoward on Friday June 26, 2020 @08:06AM (#23651048)
There's not much more it can be hollowed out. If it's not to continue as an operating airline, the only assets to be sold for "scrap" are the aircraft (they own about half their fleet), and there's not much demand for them right now, or for the foreseeable future.

But its brand, network and operating infrastructure have substantial value, so they'll get a much better return if they can get it operational and profitable again.

Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by 542458 on Friday June 26, 2020 @08:17AM (#23651114)
They can’t sell the airplanes for scrap, because they don’t own them - Virgin Australia leases its planes.
Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by tomhoward on Friday June 26, 2020 @08:20AM (#23651137)
They own about half of them according to the Forbes article below, including four of the five 777s they operate.

But even if you're right it only enhances my point; there's little "scrap" value in VA; it's either an operating airline or nothing.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/willhorton1/2020/04/25/is-virgi...

Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by aryonoco on Friday June 26, 2020 @10:16AM (#23652192)
The four they own, we're fitted with small cargo doors, as opposed to standard ones, to save pennies. Now, in a world of Dreamliners and A350s, The major life of a second hand 77W is as a freighter, but no one wants these birds cause they are not suitable for freight operations. So yes they own them, but no one is going to buy them.

John Borghetti and his team made a lot of stupid decisions during their decade at the helm. This really was the cherry on the top.

Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by bgorman on Friday June 26, 2020 @12:02PM (#23653493)
Is there no way to retrofit a larger door onto the aircraft?
Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by ficklepickle on Friday June 26, 2020 @01:56PM (#23654919)
I can think of two options, at opposite ends of the cost spectrum: a sawsall and duct tape, or send it back to Boeing for modification. One of those options is crazy reckless and the other crazy expensive. I will leave it up to the reader to decide which is which .
Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by andrewwharton on Friday June 26, 2020 @08:04AM (#23651035)
Yep, seems like the big expectation here is to retain jobs and keep a competitive market in Australian domestic travel. Doesn’t seem likely anymore, which is a shame, because I always liked flying Virgin over the cattle-mustering experience that was flying Jetstar.
Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by etimberg on Friday June 26, 2020 @07:47AM (#23650916)
Only thing I ever remembered was that they were founded by Mitt Romney which immediately reminds me of the "Corporations are people" quote.
Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by sushshshsh on Friday June 26, 2020 @08:23AM (#23651166)
Corporations definitely are people, just ones that have a legal duty and financial incentive to act extremely selfishly and deceptively.
Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by tomhoward on Friday June 26, 2020 @09:08AM (#23651544)
That's a caricature. Company directors have a legal duty to act in the interests of the company (as distinct from shareholders), but that doesn't mean they have to "act extremely selfishly and deceptively", any more than individuals do or should.

People and companies need to balance their individual short term self-interest with their reputation and long-term interest.

Like individuals, some companies can act like assholes, but when the system works well, people will stop associating with those ones.

Of course, cronyism, monopoly effects and other issues mean the system doesn't always work well, but that's a somewhat separate matter.

Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by sushshshsh on Friday June 26, 2020 @10:32AM (#23652381)
Nice so I'm being downvoted by anti corporate and pro corporate people, good to know.

You compared the level of selfishness of corporations to individuals. I wonder if other people here would agree with that.

My original intent was to confirm that corporations are indeed made up of people, who have motivations.

Most people here would deny that corporations should be considered people.

Re:Virgin Australia administrators agree to sell airline to ... by tomhoward on Saturday June 27, 2020 @10:43AM (#23662128)
> Most people here would deny that corporations should be considered people.

Most people understand the legal basis for that when it's explained. And most people understand that corporations are run by people and are built to benefit (some) people.