When news first broke that the maker of Twinkies was going out of business, too many people assumed it was the same old story — union workers demanding exorbitant wages in an era when belt-tightening is necessary. So let’s take a look at what the management at Hostess has been up to over the last few years.
They’ve sold the company three times since the 1980s, each time losing assets and picking up debt, leading to two bankruptcy filings in the last 10 years. The CEO’s salary was tripled earlier this year. Now, as a parting shot, they just gave us our number of the day: $1.8 million.
That’s how much Hostess wants to pay — just in bonuses — to 19 of their top executives, even after they filed for liquidation.
On average, each executive would get nearly $100,000 on top of their normal salary to help wind down a company that failed under their watch. But there’s no point in just picking on Hostess. This kind of mentality has become common.
The average pay for an American CEO went up 15 percent last year and 28 percent the year before, even as real wages for most Americans continued a 40-year drop. Somehow, this has become the normal way of doing business. Talk about half-baked.
