470 replies to this topic

[Rob Randall]

^Presumably this sad end will be taught at the Peter B. Gustavson school of business.

 

I'm not kidding. How many companies ever gamed out the scenario of an involuntary shut down. How many will from now on?

[spanky123]

^Presumably this sad end will be taught at the Peter B. Gustavson school of business.

 

I'm not kidding. How many companies ever gamed out the scenario of an involuntary shut down. How many will from now on?

 

My bet is that they will use the restructuring to clear the books and then restart. 

[Victoria Watcher]

I suspect they got caught out using some type of a lag between revenues and payouts. When new revenue did not keep coming in suddenly payouts were missing. I hope it’s not that bad but it might be.

I’m not saying ponzi. But I have my suspicions.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 March 2020 - 02:08 PM.

[spanky123]

I suspect they got caught out using some type of a lag between revenues and payouts. When new revenue did not keep coming in suddenly payouts were missing. I hope it’s not that bad but it might be.

I’m not saying ponzi. But I have my suspicions.

 

It says that they had extended credit to companies and that several didn't pay up. I know they also offered hedging and perhaps they got caught on some of the wild swings.

 

I doubt that there was anything not entirely above board.

[Victoria Watcher]

ya I should not be so critical. they certainly were unregulated to the point they could take some legal gambles banks would never entertain.

swing big. sometimes you strike out.

[spanky123]

ya I should not be so critical. they certainly were unregulated to the point they could take some legal gambles banks would never entertain.

swing big. sometimes you strike out.

 

Knowing Peter G. I would say there is zero chance he didn't run things exactly by the rules. The guy is incredibly smart and successful. We will know more in a few days as the receiver publishes its updates, but the shocking thing to me is how fast this happened. People set up corporations to isolate events like this from their other holdings and assets so the fact that they are filing for bankruptcy isn't a big surprise, but you have to ask how many other companies are in the same position - hugely successful firms that have gone to less than zero in less than two weeks.

[Mike K.]

It'll also be interesting to see how Victorians react to this news given what public opinion has been regarding businesses and bankruptcies of a certain businessman-turned-president down south.

[Rob Randall]

I just wonder if Gustavson was aware his company was so fragile that it had perpetually been a mere two weeks from bankruptcy. I don't know if was the volatility of that particular line of services or what because most businesses larger and smaller have a bit more of a safety net built in.

[spanky123]

I just wonder if Gustavson was aware his company was so fragile that it had perpetually been a mere two weeks from bankruptcy. I don't know if was the volatility of that particular line of services or what because most businesses larger and smaller have a bit more of a safety net built in.

 

Depends. You build in a safety factor but that doesn't take into consideration catastrophic events usually. There are countless businesses who went from best month in their history to $0 revenue in one month or less. Nobody plans for that.

Edited by spanky123, 31 March 2020 - 10:25 AM.

[Mike K.]

Gustavson is a very, very wealthy man.

That being said, we’ll have to wait and see what the auditors find.

[Victoria Watcher]

It'll also be interesting to see how Victorians react to this news given what public opinion has been regarding businesses and bankruptcies of a certain businessman-turned-president down south.

 

google news search brings up nothing but the tc article on the company.  must be small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.

[spanky123]

Gustavson is a very, very wealthy man.

That being said, we’ll have to wait and see what the auditors find.

 

Sure he is but at some point if the future isn't looking good you cut your losses.

[Victoria Watcher]

Canadians won’t get any details about the eagerly-awaited wage subsidy program announced on Friday (March 27), despite the prime minister’s promise of more details Tuesday (March 31).

 

The recently announced wage subsidy for COVID-19 affected businesses has expanded to all Canadian companies and charities that have seen at least a 30 per cent drop in revenues, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Canadians Monday.

__________________________

 

At a press conference following the prime minister’s address, Deputy Minister Chrystia Freeland said Ottawa was working hard to work out any issues.

 

“I really apologize, sincerely, for some of the kinks in these systems,” Freeland said.

 

https://www.vicnews....panies-trudeau/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 31 March 2020 - 04:51 PM.

[spanky123]

^ Delayed again today.  Now pushed back to this afternoon. Main concerns are the costs of the commitments that Trudeau made and how exposed the program is to abuse and fraud.

[spanky123]

According to a savesmallbusiness.ca survey, 70% of all small businesses in Canada will fail within the next 30 days.

 

https://savesmallbusiness.ca/

[rjag]

^ I wont be surprised. This is going to be far worse than the Depression and what I fear most is this will expose the weak underbelly of government in their inability to backstop this from happening.

 

Within a year to 18 months I bet we'll see civil unrest expand in some Eu cities and the rise of even more polarizing populist hard-left and hard-right politics and we all know how that ends... 

[spanky123]

Within a year to 18 months I bet we'll see civil unrest expand in some Eu cities and the rise of even more polarizing populist hard-left and hard-right politics and we all know how that ends... 

 

Won't be nearly that long. Once we have mass business failures and layoffs (and bear in mind that if a business fails employees will only get 2 weeks pay from the Government) and people see that the Government is only looking after its own then they will get angry. Once they cannot feed their family they will take action. 4 months.

 

The Feds and Provinces are trying to help but the enormity and complexity of the problem are beyond their ability to cope and the advice they are taking from "experts" is mostly self serving. 

[spanky123]

MPs got pay hikes today and I note that some of them have decided to donate the incremental amount to charity. That is mighty big of them.

[rjag]

MPs got pay hikes today and I note that some of them have decided to donate the incremental amount to charity. That is mighty big of them.

 

Outside of Education assistants etc how many govt workers have been laid off? I mean folks working directly in Govt ie Muni's, Provincial and Federal depts? 

[shoeflack]

According to a savesmallbusiness.ca survey, 70% of all small businesses in Canada will fail within the next 30 days.

 

https://savesmallbusiness.ca/

 

Sounds like an incredibly fair and unbiased source to me! Oh wait, you're just misquoting.

 

"According to a Save Small Business survey, 38% of small businesses will default on their commercial rent by April 1, and 70% by May 1."

 

FWIW, missing rent does not equate to a business failing. Also worth noting that not all small businesses rent...so that number is only based on those that do.

 

Also, if you look at federal government statistics (I know, we're not supposed to trust those stats), far more than 30% of small businesses are in industries that are currently still operating, or even booming, as a result of COVID-19.