I always wondered what led Cabela's to sell to Bass Pro. I came across this today and it's very sad but I think people should know about it. It's amazing how one wealthy individual can help destroy a local economy.

Hedge fund forced Cabela's merger, decimated jobs in Sidney, Nebraska

Gordon Gekko in the flesh. This happens more than we know.

Ultimately the towns situation is on the town leaders. Never put all your eggs in 1 basket; You must grow and bring in new industry. Because when you don’t own it, you can’t be so dependent on it.

I’d hate to have to sell my house in that situation.

I blame the Cabela's family more than any group etc.

I mean it was fairly well know they were looking to sell the company for a couple of years before it happened.

The Cabelas family had little to do with the deal. Dick Cabela was a figurehead at best. They were a publicily traded company run by a board of directors. Virtually all of the deal was constructed by a man named Tommy Milner.

Unfortunately it's all about the money plane and simple!

EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE

once a company becomes publicly traded , the real power lies within some or most of the board of directors . It's all about the dollars , Board members want to high return and will do anything/ everything to get it .
I am in technology business and it's scary how a board of directors can act ----it's almost shameless .
I personally watched a Board hire a new CEO just to fire 400 employee's ( out of 2000) so they could drive margins higher in hopes of driving stock prices higher . THe CEO didn't care because he was being paid millions to do it .

I just don't get people talking bad about a business owner starting a company with the intent of making money only to be successful in that plan by selling it for an insane amount of money. If you haven't ever started a company and gone significant time with sleepless nights wondering how to be successful for both you and your employees and their families, you won't ever understand this emotion.

I sure hope we are able successful enough with our companies, to one day sell them to someone else for a crazy amount of money. Unfortunately when companies are bought/sold, there can be "casualties" that eventually come from them in one way or another. That seems to be the case in this merger/acquisition...it had a big impact on the town of Sidney. On the flip side what did it do to help Springfield, MO? Maybe nothing maybe something. Regardless, I can't ever fault a business owner selling their business if its the best thing for them and their family.

Completely agree with you. And let's not forget what Cabela's did for that small town for many years before selling.

There are some things that should be understood. The 11% share of Cabelas owned by the hedge fund and fund manager that is being accused of being the cause for what happened in Sidney used investors money to buy the 11% stake. The 11% stake was bought to force Cabelas into a quick sell position or an accelerated selling position. Who would want this? Who all would benefit from this? And besides, the buyer of Cabelas is the one that shutdown the Sidney operation not the hedge fund manager. Why was Cabelas firing and laying off people right before the transaction? This has been called doing someone's dirty work in other situations in order for the buyer to have less severance to payout.

I suspect the real bad dude was not the fund manager but he serves a purpose in the fake news industry to blame him and it allows the real bad guy(s) to go unnoticed.

There are some recent events in this industry with similar scenarios with a bad dude(s). Some how these guys escape criticism because they have been successful financially.

Sorry for the cryptic post but this type of stuff usually results in warning shots fired towards this direction.

I read someplace that Bass Pro bought Cabelas otherwise they would have had a going out of business sale,shut down and everybody losing their job with no severance pay.....reportedly Johnny Morris was very generous with severance pay and also offered the vacant headquarters building in Sydney,NE.for a dollar a year rent to any company who would locate there...

This is usually the camp I sit in.

Who decided to make it a publicly traded company? Who benefited from that happening?

Really you want to go back that far? It had nothing to do with the sale. But if you want to blame the man good for you.