The Galveston County Daily News

NOVEMBER
3

11:59 AM in Buzz

By Laura Elder | Permalink | Comments (9)

I have just a few hours left of vacation before reporting in for election night duty. But I couldn’t resist posting a report that Tilman Fertitta got his way. The CEO of Landry’s Restaurants is finally taking the company private.

He’s been trying to do so for some time. When he began those efforts more than a year ago, he said he wanted the ability to follow a long-term strategy free from Wall Street’s short-term profit demands.

There are still some loose ends to tie up before the deal is final. But I’m curious about his plans and what he might be able to achieve. Do you think this is a good move? Do you think Wall Street is too impatient for profits and short-sighted in its performance expectations?

Read more about it here.

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I use another term for "impatient" but it means much the same thing as far as Wall Street is concerned --- Wall Street is too "reactive". I see it where I work. If for some reason the sales / net profit figures aren't too good for one or two business quarters the board of directors panic and push their CEOs and CFOs too quickly to do something about it. Much too often their "solutions" are short sighted and they start do compromise on the market niche characterizations that once dominated their company (i.e customer service and convenience).

— By Gerald Vimont on Nov. 3 at 12:46 PM

Tilman is right on the money. Wall St pressures companies to perform in a manner that makes sense to Wall St but may not make sense to the performance of the enterprise.

Question... if he takes it private, how will he monetize his equity? The real question is who is he going to sell it to when he gets it to where it needs to be?

— By Norman Pappous on Nov. 3 at 1:59 PM

Wishing Tilman and those working with him the best on this. So grateful for what they do for Galveston.

— By Soli DeoGloria on Nov. 3 at 4:44 PM

When Tilman gets the company to where he wants it to be then he takes it public again and really cashes in.

— By tim rice on Nov. 3 at 5:07 PM

So I assume Mr. Fertitta will borrow a substantial portion of the funds needed to buy the shares, and that he will hypothecate the stock to secure the loan.

I don't see how he'll have any more flexibility with playing out his "plan" than he did with stock-holders.

So I believe Mr. Rice's guess is the right one. The whole thing is a plan for Mr. Fertitta to make and keep all of the gains for himself, if his plan works, then go public once again.

And there is nothing sinster about doing that. It's good business.

— By Bill Cherry on Nov. 3 at 6:44 PM

This is like watching a Greek play.

The ""players" perform on stage while the "chorus" wrings its hands in the wings speculating and commenting on what is happening.

Shakespeare was right.

Carpe Diem

— By robert strevell on Nov. 4 at 7:06 AM

Very eloquiently put Robert. I think Tilman is doing the right thing. Wall Street DOES get too impatient for the common good much of the time. Hope he (and consequently us) does well.

— By Jeff Modesitt on Nov. 4 at 7:30 AM

By going private, he'll retain the control. Depending on his line of credit, he'll probably do good financially as well. And as most posters state, he'll probably make it public in a few years and really do good.

That's business.

— By Gary Thac on Nov. 5 at 2:52 AM

Another benefit from owning the company privately is no involvement with the SEC like sarbanes oxley reports, or for some, those sometimes nasty annual meetings with stock holders and now no annual reports
owning outright is way better.

— By William Jones on Nov. 5 at 8:31 AM

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About Laura Elder

Laura Elder has covered business for The Daily News for since 2001 and writes Biz Buzz, a twice-weekly column.

She grew up in Houston and graduated from the University of Houston with a communications degree in 1992. She worked for six years at the Houston Business Journal covering the retail and restaurant industries.

She lives in Galveston with her husband Michael Smith, also a journalist.

Read Laura's Biz Buzz column each Tuesday and Thursday.

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