thisistank

That means this -

Sign the no compete or your fired...and until you sign, you're on admin leave. If you don't sign it by such and such date, you're terminated.

Liberty, rightfully so, needs to take the appropriate steps to ensure they are covered for the (no doubt) impending law suit.

Catastrophe

I can assure you it is NOT in Reggies makeup to be anyones VALUED EMPLOYEE

BLee

I totally agree with you there, but as we obviously know, he lost control of his own destiny.

I can't imagine Reggie ever wanting to just be an employee of ANY kind at the company he founded, unless it was under his own terms.

I also cannot see any real need for the new owners to keep him around to be honest, other than to keep him from possibly being their competition. Other than strictly for marketing the boats, he can't expect to be put in a position with the company to make their financial decisions anymore, so his value with them is limited on paper.

The hull designs he's built, can be piggy backed for YEARS, without needing to be updated by the new owners. Most other boat companies have ridden their designs for decades, & just redone their "look" every few years. Fountain just happened to be one of the few that continually were updating the quality of their hulls on a regular basis, therefore they don't really need his or anyone elses input on the product as much as they need them.

I'm sure they would rather pay him a settlement or severance package, along with a non-compete for "x" amount of years than anything else. Reg would probably like to leave & start over, but not without a settlement of some kind from Fountain, which they won't do without a non-compete in place. It's a Mexican Standoff.

VtSteve

In any business after a complete bankruptcy liquidation, it's always laughable when the destructor-in-charge gets a payoff after the screwing everyone else took. But that's life.

Many times, what makes someone so successful and valuable in one area, makes them almost useless, or less than useless for most other things.

Reggie obviously likes the limelight still. He likes to make headlines, and be the big cheese. I'm quite sure he has the personal wealth to get do something that would give him the center stage again. So Liberty has to figure out how to get rid of this thorn in their sides, without aggravating him enough to get the thorn infected. I'll bet if Reggie wanted some cheap publicity, he'd be way more than a distraction to Liberty than he is now.

Maybe he'll buy some low volume maker and put a beak on their boats

Boat Boss

Lets not forget the root of this problem. It all began with the bank loan Reggie got that Brunswick was on as a guarantee. This loan was a lifeline at that time to keep the business alive. We all should remember the "Fountain-Mercury" propaganda he was selling at that time. Reggie did not like Brunswick telling him where he could and could not spend money such as racing. He signed over all of the compaines and his personal assest to refinance that loan with a differant bank (regions I believe) to seperate himself from Brunswick. The Regions loan is the one he had to file BK on and now he is at the mercy of Liberty. This is not a new situation but a prolonged issue of mismanagement of the company.

Robertjr

Correct, Bill Gates of Microsoft fame would not touch a boat building company with a ten foot pole! He might buy stock in Berkshire Hathaway a company that his buddy and pal Warren Buffet owns. And only because Berkshire owns Geico and would like to insure the puchasers of pleasure boats. People at that level view 94% of the population as "serfs". Individuals that are here to further there investments. By the way I wonder what BH closed at today, missed the closing bell. Never mind its sold on a three tier system the likes of which that I can buy are at around 100 or so a share, the higher up tiers are way out of my ability............................Robertjr....... .....................

Boat Boss

Buffett does own a boat company;

http://berkshirepontoon.com/

VtSteve

Berkshire owns BoatUS as well.

Twin O/B Sonic

A friend of mine was at Reggies place and said he has a huge picture of himself on the wall just inside his front door.
What's the term I'm thinking of......,oh yeah Napoleon attitude.
I'm impressed. New owners can't screw up worse than he did.

DollaBill

Fountain #1 will be out of business in 180 days. Then, as stated, he WILL buy back the factory at pennies on the dollar. Now, the twist would be this....

He runs every aspect of the company but the finances and decides to build to order - and - nearly ONLY factory direct sales. He could kill the market. I would be ALL OVER THAT and would tell you that I would call him in the morning and be a part of it by noon. That scenario is a winner.