http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10/28/ackman-takes-a-ride-on-the-canadian-pacific-railway/ I can't really speak to this, but what I've heard is that Ackman is no Buffett. He's far more hands on. So there's some handringing. Other rumors I've heard is that CP management isn't well thought of even though at the operations level they're pretty good.
Bump, Ackman is simply after money, the more the better! Some people term that as "activist shareholder", I term it as GREED! All my life I have found it quite interesting that those who actually work for a living have relatively little to show for it, while those who speculate, exploit and scheme shovel the money in by the truck load. The former CP management was realistic i.e. they knew what the railway is all about, knew what could or couldn't be achieved over the short and the long run and proceeded accordingly. Moneygrabbing Ackman hired E. Hunter Harrison who did a "wonderful" job at Canadian National Railways, then retired - to the relief of any CN person I have every talked with (and that is plenty of them!) - then came out of retirement when Bill Ackman called him. Now that Harrison is in charge at CP one can see the lunacy taking hold. I'll keep you posted on what that means "on the shop floor". :startled:
As I said in the other thread. CP employees I've talked to seem very split on EHH. Most however didn't share your opinion about previous management being realistic. Just because some of them think EHH is bad doesn't mean they didn't think the old guys were also bad.
Being realistic is a relative matter. Those who thought that the past management was not so good and the working climate could have been better had a point. There is always room for improvement, but once it dawns on them that EHH is a "my way or the highway" guy, in every respect that is worth mentioning, it will be a rude awakening. To get the real low down they need to talk to the guys at CN. At CN they didn't have an "activist shareholder" like Ackman in the background, nor had EHH stipulated in which time span he would hit the 60s operating ratio.
