Now that it's been over a year since our CEO "retired," are we ever going to get a new CEO or are we stuck with the current "acting CEO" for good? It might be nice to have a CEO with a business degree that has maybe worked an 8 hour day at least once .
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Now that we're on teams, you can kind of follow what people are doing. Almost every time I look at him he's unavailable or offline. The man works from home, and he does not even think its important to be signed on to a computer. Realistically, his job probably consists of day drinking and the occasional golf game with "prospective vendors."
the very thought of a labor budget is viewed with hostility.
you have to wonder how we work for them.
They are Follett Family members.
Kind of like how you get to be part of the Royal Family - you're born into it or marry into it.
The board of directors do not run Follett. The Family runs Follett.
I don't think anyone outside of the Family has been the Chairman of the Board, and very few outside the Family have been CEO's. I'm think KH, MLS and the last two were CEO's from outside the family and I don't think the Family has been happy with those results. Probably why the position hasn't been filled. That and the don't want to pay anyone.
Never met ML but if he’s anything like TL you have to wonder how we work for them. The single best place for information about what really happens around here are the admin assistants and IT people. Half the board can’t turn on their own computer so much as set up a meeting to fire someone.
I've heard there is a dividend but it hasn't been paid since COVID. Hard to believe TL and his brother ML before him rose to where they are given how d-mb they are. If that's the best the family has to offer, sheesh. Someone once said there are different levels of family within the family, I can see what level TL is from. I've worked with non-TL family members and they were modest, I got the sense they were working for Follett more cause of the family aspect than the money.
How'd you hear that TL forced PC out? What's the story there? Always thought there was something fishy there.
Did someone hear Follett is selling? Any profit sharing on that for us?
Venture capital? But Follett bought Baker and Taylor. Plus a number of other companies.
Isn't the family sort of a venture capital entity itself?
The poster was using venture capital as a model for ownership of non-publicly traded companies. You don't accept the "risks" of ownership without some tangible benefit that assured. By having seats on the board, ownership knows it may change course and purge the day to day management team, sell off assets, or sell the company. follett is no different. While this generation of owners risk nothing, they still have control over the board of directors.
Someday you won't have the Follett family to kick around.
Seems like the Family is doing all the kicking around!
What does this mean. Follett selling out?
Venture capital doesn't invest in companies without negotiating seats on the board
Someday you won't have the Follett family to kick around.
I've heard about "the dividend" for a long time. I have no idea if there is such a thing.
Yes there is. A number of family members live off the dividends. Don't work, have never worked.
THAT is why MLS said here only job was to make (privately held) Follett Family stock worth more. The more it's worth, the bigger the dividend.
follett isn't a publicly traded company, true. That does not mean it doesn't have a valuation. Moreover, dividends are supposed to be a share of operating profits given back to the company's owners. The board of directors sets the dividends. The board may suspend the dividend. This is true in privately held companies and publicly traded companies. Venture capital doesn't invest in companies without negotiating seats on the board, minimum valuation targets and dividends granted their special class of shares. tl and family are no different.
I've heard about "the dividend" for a long time. I have no idea if there is such a thing. I do know that whatever the company is paying for leadership, it's getting ripped off.
So you're saying it's the Family's ego driving the company, not sound business decisions?
We're rich, we never fail?
Though the fate of Follett is clearly in the hands of TL you are wrong about the current dividend situation. The org has a stock price of $0, not a typo, zero. There is no market value to this org outside of what occurs within the walls of McHenry. The family could sell it for more than they could sell the whole. Until TL's relatives acknowledge the train wreck that is the org and force not only him out but the shuttering of FHE's brick and mortar stores the value will never exceed $0. The extreme wealth of the family is from the investments it made from decades of growth, investments outside of the org, not monies coming to them from the company as it stands today.
good fun not accountability.
Yes it is. TL can be removed but he won't be as long as the family gets it's dividends.
Used to be an inside joke, you could always tell when the Family was having a meeting at one of the Follett facilities because the parking lot would be full of new Mercedes, BMW's, Porches, and Bentley's.
Chairman's primary function is handing out special pay outs for urgent needs for family members. Therefore you BETTER suck up to TL (or else!).
The little people (aka known as the help) have to scrimp and save.
Ha ha ha. Even the dividend is TL being accountable to TL. He gets a dividend. His parents get a dividend. His brother gets a dividend. I think he has a sister too. Diverting money from employees and vendors into your familys pockets is good fun not accountability.
No accountability what so ever???
That's what YOU think!
Accountability to the family. As long as the dividend checks roll in, TL is Golden.
Uncle Joe's BMW is 2 years old!? Here's a check for $72,000.00. A Follett can't be seen in a 2 year old Bimmer.
As long as the family can live off the dividends, you well being means nothing.
It’s a wonderful world isn’t it? The new CEO retired the former CEO by coup and took over the role himself while continuing to hold the Chairman role meaning TL reports to himself. No accountability what so ever. Great work if you can get it.
If the CEO worked full days, you wouldn't need all those EVP and SR VPs running around. Come on!
We can be a little generous, can't we? The CEO is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors. There has to be an 8 hour day between the two jobs, right? Also, where else are you going to find a CEO who is as well versed in multi-layer marketing. Bettcha a beer at happy hour you can't find another one with that specific expertise.