Hacker News Reader

Comment by elliekelly | Hacker News Reader

Is there a word for when a headline and maybe even the first few paragraphs of an article makes you roll yours eyes but by the end you think the author has made a pretty good point?

I think that genre is my favorite.

View on HN

I particularly dislike headlines and articles that presume to know what the reader is thinking or doing, in order to presumptuously tell them they're "wrong".

Sometimes you don't really care or are uninformed about a topic, in which case you can't be said to have arrived at the position of being "wrong".

Other times it's a subject you deeply care about, have investigated, and you either agree with the author or don't, but you probably can't really be said to be "wrong" in either case without further context.

Agreed, the "if anything management is getting screwed here" got me good. Still not convinced management, who walked away with millions in cash, got screwed, but it was a well-crafted article.

Edit: I should clarify that by "walking away with millions" I was referring to their normal cash comp. 2019 CEO cash comp was $3.6MM, and she got $700k as a retention bonus.

Do companies really have any other choice but to hand out a bunch of cash to senior management? Nobody really wants to hang around and go down with the ship, but someone has to stick around to manage the reorganization. These weren't bonuses to "walk away" with cash, these were bonuses for them to stick around.

Where else were they going to go right now? The entire auto industry, and especially the rental side, are effectively stalled and not hiring new people. In a normally functioning market I would agree with you, but in this case it really comes across as a ridiculous and needless handout.

Maybe the market downturn can account for why these bonuses are less than we normally see. But these are senior execs we're talking about; it is not uncommon for them to switch industries. Their job specialty is managing a company, not renting cars. The current Hertz CEO has only been in the car rental industry for two years.

I'll repeat the question then - where are they going to go? Unless you think all of them could transition to SaaS companies I'm not seeing how it's relevant that they're senior execs.

Their current CEO spent 28 years at Walmart, and Walmart (as well as several other retailers) has had great financial performance recently.

Or many of them could probably afford to sit on their butt at their beach home for a few years and ride out the recession.

I don't see any reason why they couldn't work at a SaaS company though. It's relevant that they're senior execs because their job position is so far removed from the actual product that they really only need a general understanding of it.

I'm going to guess you've never seen how senior executive recruiting actually works. I regularly work with senior-level executives in automotive, tier 1 supplier, and software companies and can tell you for a fact that right now these people would not easily find jobs anywhere else. Without the retention payouts their options would have been 1) keep working through the wind-down and receive their normal level of pay and benefits or 2) have no job and get the 55k/yr equivalent in unemployment with no benefits. I 100% do not believe very many, if any, would have opted for the latter option and sitting around on the beach. This payout was unnecessary.

> 2) have no job and get the 55k/yr equivalent in unemployment with no benefits.

... plus income from directorships, investments, etc.

People with high net worth don't need to rely on consistent income the way the rest of us do. A lot of them are later on in their careers and could potentially retire as well.

There are other options too, like quit and become a consultant, which is exactly what Marinello did.

It is very common for senior management to run to the door during a bankruptcy, even during an economic downturn. If there's any argument that this payout is unnecessary, it is that senior management doesn't really care about the money as much as it is about the situation.

$16 million over 340 employees (if you believe the article) is $47,058.82 per. Not exactly a golden parachute if you ask me.

Assuming even distributing of funds among those 340 people is a little hard to believe as well.

> walking away with millions

I was referring to their normal compensation, should have made that clear.

According to the article the CEO got $700k from the $16MM, and her 2019 cash comp was $3.6MM.

If there isn't we should make one up. You get to call the dibs.

EDIT: if you're going to neglect your duty I will seize control and dub this type of story "an EllieKelly story".

The only thing I could think of was "doubtmaneuvered" but I've always wanted to have a wikipedia article so I certainly won't say no to becoming part of internet lore :)

It brings to mind the early 2000s MTV show Diary, which always led with the tagline "You think you know... but you have no idea"

There's probably some German word for it, like Schadenfreude

Ben Hunt and Epsilon Theory is a good blog for that. Their take on financial markets as behavioral psychology is ... interesting if incredulous at first.

In journalism that's sometimes called a zinger lede.

Under promise, over deliver

Reply on news.ycombinator.com