But everything is hunky dory according to the CEO, as he cavorted with Governor Baldacci and other officials.
AP Interview: FairPoint CEO aims to prove skeptics wrong
by Clarke Canfield - Associated Press Writer / April 1, 2008
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine—Fairpoint Communications Inc. CEO Gene Johnson dismissed a plunge in the stock price as he talked up his company's plans a day after completing a $2.3 billion deal for Verizon's wired telephone and Internet business in northern New England.The dsl seemed peppy today, so maybe the guy is right. They'll be able to service the $2 billion debt, be a good worker daddy, and be dsl Santa Claus. April Fool!!
Johnson said Tuesday that skeptics will be won over in the months ahead as FairPoint takes over Verizon's land-based assets in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Investors, he added, should be pleased with the stock performance.
"The proof is in the pudding, and we're going to make some pretty good pudding," Johnson told The Associated Press in an interview at one of FairPoint's regional offices. ...
Looking forward, the biggest risks in the deal are now past, Johnson said. FairPoint has already resolved the regulatory risk of not having the sale approved, the financial risk of not being able to raise capital, and the labor risk of not reaching contract agreements with employee unions.
A major task ahead is to develop and test a complex new operating system for the network, he said. Nobody expects the transition to be perfect.
"Something will go wrong and we know it," he said. "We don't know what it'll be, but when it does we'll be ready for it and we'll fix it."
Posted by The Owl at 23:52. Filed under: Labor and business
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