CSX and Hunter Harrison

dak94dav Feb 16, 2017

  1. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Right on Boxcab. NS's measured approach has so far bested Jacksonville's damn-the-torpedoes attack plan. It'll be interesting to see what 2018 brings for these roads. CSX will eventually sort things out, but with it rejecting industry standards for data reporting, we may never know.
     
  2. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    Both Canadien roads are one their way to a post Harrison recovery. Both Canadian Roads have replaced many things Harrison obliterated.

    Mr Harrison,
    Is old school , enjoys a has-been railroad operating philosophy.
    To downsize oneself to the best operating ratio, and basically out of a robust railway traffic business.
    Mr. Harrison, is trying, and so far rather succesfuly to reduce tonnage hauled via CSX, and to bring that revenue-tonnage ratio chart together at an apex.
    Problem is he is sending tonnage at an alarming rate to another carrier (NS) or via truck or highway traffic, which benefits no railway common carrier.
    But it does bring his short sighted if not dim witted ways towards a certain demise.

    You guys remember everyone's RR CEO hero 20 years ago. The railroaded of the year.
    Mr. Ed Moyers?
    They are to this day trying to recover from his downsizing, this yoyo is no different.
     
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  3. mmi16

    mmi16 TrainBoard Member

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  4. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    Another yoyo of years gone by all this reminds me of is Patrick B. McGinnis of the New Haven. You know, the guy who bought a bunch of diesels the road couldn't afford, and scrapped several not so old and perfectly serviceable electrics, because he was going to scrap the Cos Cobb electric plant--that he was never going to be allowed to scrap because it was too important a part of the local power grid.

    He, too, was known for dumping on employees when his own mistakes came back to bite him.
     
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  5. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Then McGinnis moved on to destroy the Boston & Maine.....:mad:

    His most blatant insult to the B&M stock holders was the rerouting of #6000 (B&M's equivalent to the Zephyr) to run between Boston and Cheshire, VT as his personal daily commuter.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2017
  6. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    Amazing how executive office screwups like those can keep moving from fiasco to even higher paying position for as long as some of them do. I guess it's charisma, I don't know.
     
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  7. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I didn't know about that and it's indeed terrible news for the Port of Baltimore. Perhaps Jacksonville figures that Baltimore's containers will simply flow to other Ports or perhaps H. Harrison must goose future income statements by cutting back on expenses.

    I hope Baltimore's tonnage finds its way to other Ports on NS rails.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2017
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  8. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I recall reading an article about such folks, some years back. They are essentially professional (male or female) axemen. Railroading and otherwise. They are paid to do this type of dirty work, as most folks are unwilling to lower themselves into such evil slime as a living. It is all about money, but not by simply earning it competing in the market. It's by cutting off of arms and legs to squeeze out every penny, regardless of harm to employees, the shippers, the public, or the company itself. Bloodthirsty economics.
     
  9. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Take a look as General Electric's outgoing CEO Jeff Immelt who has steered GE into ruin in the 16 Years he's been at the helm. GE's twenty member Board has enjoyed the good life too, filling their faces with hors d'oeuvres and their pockets with cash while GE's share price has fallen from $50 to $20 during Immelt's watch.

    It was recently confirmed that Immelt took two corporate jets to most functions in case one broke down. The Board claims ignorance of it all.

    GE shares last traded at these levels twenty years ago in 1997 and a dividend cut may be in the offing to conserve cash.

    In an effort to look progressive over the years, GE has sold off many of their core businesses and is left with very little that offers growth. Immelt's strategy has been to sell gold and buy lead with the proceeds. Sadly, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that GE's locomotive business is being reviewed and might be sold.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2017
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  10. Point353

    Point353 TrainBoard Member

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    Relocating the HQ to downtown Boston is the obvious solution.
     
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  11. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Oh, I forgot about that. "Hey everyone, let's move our HQ to one of the most expensive cities on the planet."
     
  12. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Pillage and burn. Modern business philosophy from the "college" system...
     
  13. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    You forgot Step Three--and get out before sales and revenues plummet. Ol' Hunter is flunking his final exam on that part of the program this time. Competitor Norfolk Southern seems to have seen him coming, and moved in on his customers more quickly than he anticipated.

    I like NS better all the time! I might even forgive them for getting away from their cool high-short-hood roadswitchers.
     
  14. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    The alternate route to loot the vault is to acquire another firm, being sure to pay far too much. This creates a smoke screen of pro-forma earnings statements and goodwill write-offs that permits the executives the luxury of extra years in their office suites while the company burns down. Hewlett Packard, a once fine and diversified firm, spent grand billions buying companies (most notably Compaq, Palm, Autonomy and others), none of which returned a dime to shareholders and gained H-P a reputation as "an incinerator of shareholder wealth". H-P has since moved in the opposite direction, dividing itself, spinning off companies and losing the product diversification that once made it successful.
     
  15. mmi16

    mmi16 TrainBoard Member

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    They talk about the Robber Barons of the 19th and early 20th Century - they don't have anything on today's Hedge Fund managers in separating company's from their money.
     
  16. YoHo

    YoHo TrainBoard Supporter

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    I'm a current employee of Hewlett Packard enterprise.

    This take is really not very good. Compaq, (and even more Palm and Autonomy) were really bad investments overall. And HP did a horrible job integrating them. The business purpose behind all 3 was not good...and remember that entirely different management teams sold them compared to who acquired them.

    But even so, you're really missing the forest for the trees here, both HPInc and Hewlett Packard Enterprise have been on buying sprees. HP bought Aruba right before the split and that was a huge deal. Afterwards Niara, SGI and a couple others.
    You can be a huge diversified multinational, but that takes a certain mindset and it makes you less nimble. the Printer and PC business has different business pressures, margins and replacement cycles than the networking business and the synergies aren't completely there, especially since HP didn't have much presence in mobile.

    Further, The Enterprise services division that was just let go earlier in the year was a dying business. The move to the cloud killed that business model. It's hurting IBM too. Better to let that business consolidate and stop heaving money on to the fire.


    Anyway, enough off topic discussion. There's plenty of bad executive behavior out there in this world, but HP/HPInc/HPE..at least at Meg Whitman's hand is not, in my estimation, one of them.
     
  17. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Yoho, good to read an appraisal from someone who knows what's up. Your post makes much better sense than the scraps of analysis I read elsewhere. I've been an HP shareholder since June of '96 and am still on board with HP and HPE, and a small smattering of their spinoffs A, DXC, KEYS and most recently, MFGP. I wonder if I should hedge these bets with Micro-Trains cars? :)
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2017
  18. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    This sort of thing amuses me:

    Nov. 27, 2017 7:09 AM ET: Shares of Norfolk Southern are on watch after Loop Capital lowers its rating to Sell from Hold on concerns over valuation.
    Nov. 29, 2017, 4:00PM ET: Shares of Norfolk Southern close up 4.8% after reaching a new 52-Week high during the day.

    I wonder if Loop Capital maintains the same view?
     
  19. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    With Meg Whitman having recently announced her resignation, what do you hear about her successor Antonio Neri?
     
  20. YoHo

    YoHo TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well, he's been her right hand man now for a while. Nobody I'm aware of is surprised by this move at all. I would expect more of the same from him. He doesn't have the rockstar CEO reputation that Meg has, but I expect him to do well in the job.
     
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