In transferring ownership, they really missed an opportunity. They should have transferred ownership to the employees and let DeVry University continue as an employee-owned company (like was done Avis, United Airlines, etc.). The current employees have an interest in real turn-around and know how to be successful. After all, some were there when DeVry was successful enough to buy medical schools, nursing schools, etc. Employees understand the importance of differentiating the school and not trying to make it a UoP clone (which was destined to be a failing strategy). Employees understand that you cannot simply have marketing people come up with a DeVry Tech buzzword and suddenly convince new students that DeVry is tech-centric. The only thing wrong with DeVry was management. Employees could have created a new board and hired or promoted qualified management who know how to run a university.
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The deal is not good for DeVry; only good for the pockets of the people who made the deal!
The accreditation is worth something, if nothing else. The “working capital” is not a payment, it’s to keep the place running. They will need that for teach-outs, campus closures, and to fund layoffs (as well as lining JB’s pockets of his way out the door).
I'm pretty sure that if an employee group offered Adtalem any money at all, DVU would have been sold to it. Or even agreed to take if for free. I say that because it appears that ATGE will actually pay Cogswell to take DVU from ATGE. It's not like DVU was an asset. It's not, just a liability. Worth less than zero, actually.
We still have free coffee because we are colocated with AdGollum but the few remaining faculty have to buy their own school supplies (like whiteboard markers) like poor inner-city elementary school teachers. Actual local elementary school now have smart boards that far exceed what resources we are given onsite.
As far as giving away the company, yes, employee ownership would have been preferable by far as an option. First thing we would have done, though, as you can tell from the sentiment here, would have been to find a way to ouster the managers. They were the ones who brokered the deal so you can imagine that an employee handoff is just an appealing fantasy. I am sure that a golden parachute awaits JB shortly down the road for getting through the handoff so that AdGollum has a toxic asset off its books.
@yeb I worked for home office when they actually took away free coffee and, if you didn't put into the "coffee fund," you weren't supposed to take any. They also made you sign out office supplies like pencils, pens and notepads. As in you had to give inventory numbers and sign your name and extension number. If you didn't fill the sheet out, the secretary would give you a tongue-lashing and drive you away in the name of whatever VP owned the floor.
It was hell, and you don't know what I'd give to have THOSE days back.
I thought the same thing (employee owned) when I read that there really wasn’t a ‘sale’, but rather a ‘transfer’ of the company. The only problem is DeVry will need to shed assets and expenses to successfully mount a turnaround. Which means many more employees will need to go.
They're paying Cogswell 7.5 mill to take it on--if that deal goes through...
They should have transferred ownership to the employees
.....They barely give out free coffee, let alone the whole company.