Posted on 01/09/2012 3:09:57 PM PST by Dysart
Hostess Brands Inc. is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, said people familiar with the matter, a move that would mark the second significant court restructuring for the Twinkie and Wonder Bread baker in the past several years.
The privately held Irving, Texas, company, which employs roughly 19,000 people and carries more than $860 million in debt, has been facing a cash squeeze amid high labor costs and rising prices for sugar, flour and other ingredients, according to people familiar with the matter. Those costs together have proved higher than the company's roughly $2.5 billion in annual sales, creating losses and cash shortfalls, they said.
Hostess also currently owes more than $50 million to vendors, which have been demanding payments on shortened timeframes after delivering goods because of Hostess's financial condition, one of the people said.
Hostess's filing would mark what's known as a "Chapter 22" in restructuring circles, since the company had already sought bankruptcy protection once before. Hostess, before called Interstate Bakeries Corp., slashed debt and costs during a four-year stint in bankruptcy court that began in 2004. The company has struggled since emerging from bankruptcy proceedings in February 2009.
The company's private-equity owner, Ripplewood Holdings, invested $40 million in Hostess last year to no avail. Hedge funds Monarch Alternative Capital, Silver Point Capital and others loaned the company $20 million late last year, but Hostess continues to have cash problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Word is that both Twinkies and Ding Dongs were named in my honor -- and don't ask about Ho-Ho's!
DO NOT GOOGLE TWINKIE JUST SAYING
Spot on, Brownsfan.
The “good news” will flow incessantly from the MSM from now until the re-election of their boy.
The only thing better than the creme center of Hostess cupcakes and Ho Hos was the middle part of chocolate pinwheels.
Wow - ya mean that the “price-demand curve” that they taught us in Econ 101, way back in the dark ages, isn’t quite as quaint and outmoded as the Great Thinkers of Modern Economics think???
Yeah. I’ve been wondering how long the charade of a recovery can be maintained. Eleven more months of deception is a fairly tall order even for the most polished propagandists. I’m counting on modern-day Patrick Henry to infuse common sense into the matter and to lay blame for our very real economic disaster squarely and rightfully at the feet of Obama. Not for creating it, but making it worse and prolonging it. Either through intent or incompetence. You decide.
Oh nooooooo’s the horror! No more Twinkies??????????
I've never trusted her... Not after what she did to Dallas.
Word is he married the Ho-Ho.
If it wasn't for all the "worth reelecting" wonderful work that the messiah has done, of course it would be MUCH MUCH worse.
Nancy Pelosi
...carries more than $860 million in debt, has been facing a cash squeeze amid high labor costs and rising prices for sugar, flour and other ingredients...
The article mentioned the Teamsters Union... thus the higher wages... Under funded pension of $2 billion... gotta love the federal government pushing of Unionism...
Rising sugar prices... now costing another 16,000 jobs.. I am glad the US restrictive tariffs and quotas on sugar to protect 500 workers and big sugar donors
High commodity prices... thanks to bigger debt and more money printing, we have weaken the dollar driving up commodity prices...
The only solution... more government /s
My cupcakes!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Each of those companies has a bad business model.
I know californica ran a few of the bread bakers out of state because bread making causes global warming/climate change.
When I was 17 (a very long time ago) and just started college; I worked at the local Kroger. One of the duties of cashiers was to decorate various displays. One cashier had made these little starburst signs to put on the Little Debbie display. The starburst signs said “Eat Little Debbie” and she placed them all over the display. Of course all of the immature 17 yr old guys like myself got a big kick out of it and the more mature 17 girls thought we were just silly boys. Guess that is why it took me a while to find a real woman!
True. Always something shady about her and things kinda fell apart for her after she moved to the Dallas area.
Maybe Michael Moore and/or Rosie O’Donnell can save Hostess brands?
She jinxed the Cowboys.
Are you suggesting that Debbie did Dallas?
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