Phil failed us. By now the strategy was obvious. He bloated the company with: (1) his 'friends' from Celanese -- overpaying them just to fill spots; (2) overpaid 'strategic' transactions that aren't aligned with our core business and won't make money long term; (3) new business segments for high-cost, low volume products that don't work; and (4) ignored necessary maintenance of our core assets. With the company nice and fat, he thought he could IPO or sell. But it didn't work. So he tried to bloat further by buying the DSM assets (as reported online). But that didn't work either. Or maybe... he could have sold but got greedy thinking he could inflate EBITDA further (and his corresponding equity payout) - so he didn't sell and then the auto market fell out from under him (because he doesn't understand that he sells commodity plastic in a cyclical industry - and he's not in a technology company). In either case, now he has a bloated company with poor morale (because he's not paying bonuses two out of three years). And people are fleeing: including the good executives. With the auto market not set to recover until at least 2024/5 there is no path out for Ascend for many years. Phil said in a call that he wanted to 'build the plane as he was flying it'.... well... guess what happens when you build a plane as you fly it... you crash and you burn. And he did. Do I expect him to do the right thing: resign? Heck no. This is the same guy who during the height of the pandemic - before vaccines were available -- went on international TV and told the world that his Acteev masks kill Covid (if you don't know what I'm talking about... google "phil mcdivitt jim cramer", bring popcorn and cringe and cry). Either those were terrible outright lies, he's a complete fool who believed his masks worked, or his masks did work and he couldn't sell water in the desert. As to the bonus situation, he says we are all in it together. We all got 10% of our expected bonus, except for he and his executive team that get zero bonus. How offensive! Does he really think the employees don't know he and his team get equity payments on top of bonuses? And equity payments are likely tagged to the EBIDTA earned (instead of the bloated EBIDTA foolishly forecast by him). So what that executives gave up a paltry10% bonus.... they still probably got 100% of their equity because the company was profitable... how much did you make off of that, Phil? He got paid because we worked and were profitable but because he greedily set a high EBIDTA target (off of which his equity and salary are likely based) we don't get paid. I challenge him to disclose his equity payment (like public companies do), and either distribute it to the employees or donate it to Ascend Cares (like a real leader would). He won't. He doesn't really care. He has zero credibility. There is no path to recovery until management is replaced and the auto market recovers. Until then, expect bonuses well under 50% and act accordingly. #quietquit
