I thought we were going to chop the company up into pieces, not add more?
33 replies (most recent on top)
@1fk
Scott employees got an email
@1fk all of Scott is going , I was at the townhall in the UK and that's what the guy who came in said , he was asked that exact question about the products and also the different markets like the ministry of defence
@x4
I don't think all of Scott Safety is going to the new company, just the SCBA part for firefighters.
@x4 The 700m was to offset what Bain brings to the table.
@x5
" I could see him running for public office after this. A true man of vision."
Ah, I think that could be a problem. Don't you watch the news?
@cj
Great to have a like-minded voice on this doom and gloom board. Brown has done more in the last year to move this place forward. 2% raise is a small sacrifice for greatness and stock prices to go up. With the current world situation, Bill Brown is a guiding light to get us thru this. I could see him running for public office after this. A true man of vision.
I'm no MBA. 3M acquired Scott safety in 2017 for $2B. Assuming zero value increase in the past 9 years, adjusting for inflation that number is $2.66B in 2026 dollars conservatively. Now 3M is paying $1.95B for Madison Fire & Rescue, which puts the total cost at $4.61B. 3M retains 50.1% ownership or $2.31B and sells the rest ($2.30B) to Bain for $700M. What am I missing?
@vn Execure change? From a 3 month outlook to a 3 month outlook??? BB is just window dressing on Romans playbook.
Slash and Burn or build the Individual companies up for sale?
@pe it’s simple he needs people who will execute change, not defend the current setup.
From a perspective low and lookiking up, here is what I see him as doing. He is getting ready to chop this company up. Someone has handed BB the keys and said "fix this company". With the Forever Chemical exit as well a some other things I see, 3M want out of the chemical business. With the consolidation of MRD to Cordova they are running into a lot of problems. My own thought is that they are getting ready for employee lawsuits. What ever Cordova / CG becomes I feel will be another SPINCO soon. Earplug litigation is another one that comes to mind.
Why else would you bring a man with a net worth $300-400 million out of retirement?He did the exact same thing when he came onboard with L3Harris and all of a sudden we are surprised? In 2020 he was voted one of the top 10 most hated CEO's because of what he is doing.
When he is done, he makes his fortune, walks away and will be praised for saving the 3M image / brand. Nevermind what that may look like.
PSD another division with no innovation. They were high on maintaining their products and add by acquisition, Aero being one of them and of course Scott Safety. The then leaders of PSD lack innovative mindset and sadly they are ‘ leading ‘ now
Even the chief HR officer is resigning (not retiring). She must seen something wrong with the company that she has decided to jump ship despite spending more than 2 decades in 3M
@ew BB is only playing a shell game long enough for his stock options to come to fruition and then some 3 years or so down the road get a 50 million dollar golden parachute from his handpicked board.
Reminds me of people like Tireman who always had things in motion just to look like they had a plan but really didn't.
Sad but true this place is slowing losing altitude from a steady leak from the Hindenburg. BB will find an lucrative exit ramp just before the ship blows up in flames and leaves charred remains.
I wish I could get 20 million a year and ride cushy corporate jets to and from my Florida yacht club every weekend to do so little of real value.
What a sad ending to a (once) great company!
No pay raise. More like make payments on legal fees.
@a9 do you think he will use some of the 700m to give us a decent pay rise?
History proves this is a bad decision, again
BB is trying to financial engineer the accounts before he retires at 65. Good luck to everyone who is still hanging on in 3M
Looking in from the outside, this news does not come across as a growth strategy but rather a subtle exiting of a past acquisition that has high liabilities and was never fully implemented into 3M. It feels like 3M just sold one of its businesses to a distributor (funded by Bain) in order to raise much needed cash while minimizing its risk profile. I’m guessing in the not too distant future, this company will position itself as something like “Madison Fire & Rescue featuring Scott Safety SCBA” rather than “3M Scott Safety SCBA available exclusively through Madison F&R.” Not saying this is specifically good or bad. Just trying to articulate that the 3M press release has way too much spin and not enough reality.
Great strategic move by BB
“Addition by subtraction”. Let me help you help me.
@bh 100%. We breathed the stuff. The stuff that is staying is not PFOS or PFAS. Funny thing is we built a state of the art WW treatment facility to continue on at the cost of right at $500 MILLION. Mikey decides we are exiting that buisness. We now do not flow enough water through it to function as designed. With half of the plant going to Cordova, they will have to come up with another idea. Strange thing though. The company RIGHT ACROSS THE TRACKS makes all of this now. It is almost like they read the USPS operating manual, slapped themselves in the forehead and said, "this is how you grow a business".
@at did Dyneon.contributed much of PFAS related?
@aa
Dyneon has gone by way of the dodo. Only two small products is still made here and they are trying to get rid of that.
Wall street didn't seem to like this news
As Michael Scott once said, "addition by subtraction".
This separates a non-core subsegment from a core division, allowing 3M to retain its broader safety business while positioning the fire and rescue segment for independent growth, optimization, and a potential future exit.
Optimization is the thing most of you will care about given this is a forum about layoffs and Bain will be the expert on how to do that.
Bain’s typical pattern is to hold on to an investment for 5 years before spinning it off or selling it off (back to 3M, to a new buyer or another private equity firm).
I don't get this move. Why not just acquire Madison F&R outright, as opposed to contributing Scott Safety? Is it because 3M's balance sheet can't afford to acquisition (Bain is a private equity company, so it is buying 49.9% of the new venture for $2.65B)? If 3M wanted to get rid of Scott Safety, why not just sell it?
Something is afoot. I bet 3M needed cash for a PFAS-related settlement.
@OP Brings back memories of the Dyneon partnership in the 90s.
@OP This partnership makes sense to me, and I used to work in PSD, and was involved in the Scott Safety integration in 2017-2019. 3M could sell only PPE to the customer (fire house) but fire safety and rescue require more than just PPE. There is a huge segment of infrastructure that is necessary for successful fire and rescue operation. Therefore, the announcement this morning was strategically the right path, and it generated $700 million in cash for 3M.
BB is "contributing" Scott Safety. Another SPINCO?
@a2 makes no sense , why would we buy it to then sell it ? I work in this business and I think this is a positive move that will hopefully make us grow , let's see when the details come out
It will be a new company, so we are basically chopping. Owning 50.1% for now but this will be sold at one time, right?