But, that makes an invalid assumption.

Post #381,373 by mmoffitt 9/28/13 3:48:45 PM Reply	But, that makes an invalid assumption. By holding as you do, you are assuming that the company in question (Blackberry) is as important to society as General Aviation. Such is clearly not the case. So, why not in an almost "last act" do something positive (support GA) with what remains of your ill gotten gains?
Post #381,374 by Ashton 9/28/13 3:54:58 PM Reply	Like. Swan-song: first Decent Corp.-action, maybe ever(?)
Post #381,401 by lincoln 9/29/13 7:12:03 PM Reply	Re: But, that makes an invalid assumption. you are assuming that the company in question (Blackberry) is as important to society as General Aviation. Bullshit. I am pointing out how the top executives of the company treated themselves to an expensive toy, paid for by the company, to enjoyed by only a privileged few, while the company was losing money & on its way to losing a lot hundreds of millions more. If I was a shareholder, I'd have grounds for a suit against them for wasting cash instead of investing it in something that would bring the company back to profitability. Satan (impatiently) to Newcomer: The trouble with you Chicago people is, that you think you are the best people down here; whereas you are merely the most numerous. - - - Mark Twain ÂPuddÂnhead WilsonÂs New Calendar,Â 1897
Post #381,406 by folkert 9/29/13 9:15:24 PM Reply	They would just argue... That Private Air Transportation is UBER important to maximize the time of the CXO class. Rather than make them wait 2 or more hours in the executive class play room at the airport and get plastered there versus they can get plastered on the plane and not have to have a possible problem. You know, CXOs making $30M a year plus bonus/incentives... is making on average, a dollar a second. Figure out how many seconds they have to be waiting around to pay for the plane... and you add that up rather quickly. Especially with travel to the airport with semi-public transport, tickets, TSA checkpoints, waiting for boarding, boarding, taxiing, IN air time (commercial planes fly slower than most CXO class planes), landing, taxi to disembark gate, waiting, getting off, getting luggage, getting semi-public transport from airport... How many wasted seconds are we talking. In an average coast to coast trip (New York to LA) probably about 6 hours wasted time. 6 hours == $21,600 wasted. Now if 3 CXOs were flying... almost $65,000 saved in wasted time, just in CXO time. Not to mention additional insurance costs on the CXO, travel bonus for the CXO, Expenses for the CXO... among other stuff. Pretty soon, a 3 CXO flight just saved them $100K. Yes, I know. I'm just trying to help you understand why they think corporate jets are important. -- greg@gregfolkert.net "No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible." --Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Post #381,407 by Another Scott 9/29/13 9:47:49 PM Reply	Dunno.... I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your numbers, but I think there's more to the argument in Blackberry's case. http://www.ft.com/in...tml#axzz2gKncMC00 (the source of lincoln's NBC piece): The troubled smartphone maker bought a second-hand Bombardier Global Express jet, which typically fetch more than $20m, to replace two older company aircraft, as part of what it characterised as a cost-saving exercise. The latest addition to the BlackBerry fleet was delivered in July in the middle of its fiscal second quarter, which it announced on Friday had resulted in a $950m-$995m net operating loss, largely due to an inventory write-off of unsold handsets. A restructuring in the wake of the poor performance will see 4,500 employees lose their jobs. As part of that cost-cutting plan, BlackBerry said on Sunday that it would also sell all of its aircraft. http://www.avbuyer.c...ctCookieSupport=1 lists many priced at "please call" and one for $17.3M. Blackberry might have paid substantially less than $20M. Buying a used corporate jet could have made sense for them (as it was replacing 2 other planes) independent of the manager's salaries. Blackberry's headquarters is in Waterloo - a relatively small town that is an hour or so away from major airports (YOW, YYZ). Driving an hour to a major airport, or paying $1500 more per ticket to leave from the local small airport and having an additional layover, quickly ads up (and can lead to additional expenses for overnight stays, etc., etc.). Of course, having a corporate jet is an expense to the company, and it's a nice perquisite for those who get to ride on it, but it's not automatically a boondoggle or an expense that only makes sense for people making $30M a year. FWIW. Cheers, Scott.
Post #381,408 by folkert 9/29/13 10:59:37 PM Reply	I was pulling... numbers together that kind of told a story... hoping there was some wisdom. Oh well. -- greg@gregfolkert.net "No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible." --Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Post #381,410 by pwhysall 9/30/13 1:23:47 AM Reply	Heh, no. When you're as far up shit creek and have left as many paddles at home as BlackBerry and you need to fly somewhere, you fly economy, is what you do. $20M buys a lot of nights in a lot of nice hotels, if that's the issue, and it also pays for a metric fuckload of the very best videoconferencing money can buy.

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