It is a year to the week when I was canned by Quebecor’s Sun Media. What were the odds Quebecor Inc. CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau would declare bankruptcy before I did?
Wish I had made that bet. Over the weekend, Pel-a-D-oh! ran out of deadlines in a last ditch attempt to persuade European bankers to bail out the horrible mess he’s made of the printing business his daddy built into the world’s biggest. (The Globe and Mail’s Konrad Yakabuski sets it up here in “Scenes from a meltdown: Inside the collapse of a printing giant“). Quebecor World shares have plummeted from above $40 to a thin dime on the Toronto Exchange Friday; New York has suspended the penny stock. Five years ago, Peladeau could have sold the doomed pulp and paper business for an estimated $5 billion.
For my reaction to Peladeau’s misfortune, go here.
2 Comments
I left Quebecor in 2002 after a 16 year career. When I think back to how good the company was in the early 90’s to where it is now, it makes me slightly sick. It’s not unexpected given the excesses of the son, Pierre Karl, but it is sad nonetheless. I feel sorry for the employees as their stock is now worthless. Hopefully, their underfunded pensions will survive. I removed my pension funds and rolled them into a LIRA when I left.
I see today’s Globe (Jan. 22) has a story about how the family holding company that controls Quebecor Inc. is withdrawing the right of Quebecor World to use the Quebecor name so it won’t be tarnished.
I’m thinking maybe it’s time for Pierre Peladeau Jr. to change his name to avoid any confusion with his successful father. Perhaps Pire Peladeau (“worst” Peladeau in French) would do the trick.