I’ve seen posts elsewhere about the board’s failures in letting the company sink this far. In fact, by law, this is ultimately their fault even more than the CEO’s. They have a hard job because they’re outsiders and they don’t know everything that’s going on. Equally important, most are probably not telco people.
Nevertheless, it’s their responsibility.
I can tell you, they are sweating this out. They do not profit from this at all. Yes, they’ve received directors’ fees over the years. And that compensation probably exceeds that of many Windstream employees. (I don’t know the numbers for Windstream’s board). From their perspective, though, it’s a small piece of their overall income from other sources. It’s a fraction of their net worth.
An outside director is normally indemnified by the company against any lawsuits brought against them as individuals for their actions as directors. Windstream’s indemnification is now worthless.
They’d also normally be covered by a special D&O (directors and officers) liability insurance policy Windstream buys on their behalf. D&O insurance protects them if the company’s indemnification fails.
Insurance companies don’t issue D&O policies for failed or failing companies. Or if they do, they’re written with so many exceptions as to be useless.
This means the directors are now worrying about lawsuits against themselves personally from shareholders that could wipe them out, financially.
A director can quit now, but it’s probably too late to avoid the risks.
I can tell you, they must all regret ever going on this board.