Jim Vena, one of EHH’s minions and who was supposedly walked off the UP before his contract was up, is the new CEO. He was supposedly given the boot because he refused to go after a business opportunity because it would upset his PSR balanced network plan. (Only run the same number of trains in each direction.)
Soroban Capitol wanted him because they think he can deliver a $400 per share stock price.
It sure won’t be done by growing the business.
Jeff
I’m really disappointed at what Vena’s turned into. He started out his railroading career as a brakeman in Jasper, Alberta and while at CN he had a decent reputation, even among employees. Unfortunate that he doubled down on Hunter’s kool-aid.
With what he’s become these days, as long as he stays well away from CN you guys can have him. Ed Harris is more than enough.
Pray for the steam program.
Big Boy on the Strasburg?
The magic of Vena! What is all the whoopla about? He is 64 years of age and has less than a year before mandatory retirement!
Sounds like a ploy to raise stock prices so the fools that missed their opportunity earlier can recoup their losses and quickly bail out thereafter … the ‘greater fool’ theory in practice!
Realistically, what can Vena do? Everything has been stretched thin to the bare bones! He could stroke labor, but realistically, why would they do miraculous things for someone that has less than a year to go with the company?
Maybe Vena is only to give the company more time to find someone. But the “greater fool” theory goes both ways, doesn’t it? Should be very interesting to see what happens …
Any remember UP “Fail Safe” program of over 50 years ago? DDA40X’s and SD40’s was quickly revamped so they were “Fail Safe.” SD70M’s could quickly go through such a program for a song and a dance, and at least 1000 reliable units would magically come out of thin air! Now, that would be sensible!
If I recall correctly, CSX modified their mandatory retirement policy for EHH. Mr. Vena will likely be allowed to work until 70 and perhaps longer if the Board perceives him to be doing what they want him to do.
I believe Disney just did the same thing with Bob Iger for his second go-around at Disney.
Mind you, I am not being a cheerleader. Just noting that the age limitation for a corporate CEO can be changed at the Board’s discretion.
Stock up a whopping 10% today on the news of Vena joining UP. He’s got lots of experience in the industry, and he appears to be a bright guy. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
What did the old CEO do to get the boot?
I would opine that it’s not necessarily a good sign - it may indicate that people are buying in hoping for a big payday…
I don’t read too much into a one day jump in share price either, although that kind of jump on an earnings miss is highly unusual. They had the news of Vena’s appointment timed just right, no doubt to offset the news of the earnings miss. Today the price will probably go down again… Vena carries some PSR baggage for sure, but people learn and evolve…
Mr. Veenna may have started as a Brakeman on CN, but I recall, and knew, EHH when he was the Engine House Hostler at Tennessee Yard, and going to College. Some people ‘learn’ and can change for the good;others,not so much…
If the area of ‘SQUEEZE" at Uncle Pete, is going to be to wring more out of ‘Labor’; Its’ going to be an interesting year!
NOW, Where’s that Popcorn Machine?
My two cents…
I don’t think many investors believe the $400 share price deal or the rest of the presentation that was given earlier by the large Institutional Investor but they do believe a change is needed…so agreement there on change I suspect.
Mr Vena’s appointment is only 1/3 of what happened. They split up the jobs of Chairman and CEO and the new Chairman of the Board is fully independent. They also appointed a new President. So I would read that as a leash versus carte blanche.
We’ll see what actually happens here…time will tell of course.
From what I read the last straw was his overall demeanor and lack of seeming to care at the recent STB hearing he attended concerning UP’s performance issues. Earlier concerns was his negative relationship with employees and some of the large shippers were not happy either. Also rising expenses or falling revenue (not sure which because I did not do a deep dive) was very visible as a trend.
He will get the boot soon, I can tell you also as a Disney stockholder. He is the biggest issue with the value of the stock. Has nothing to do with politics but purely performance in his lack of big name movie offerings this year, skyrocketing prices and stagnant attendence at the amusement parks, etc. It is becomming very apparent to the Board from what I hear…they need to replace him.
Even if Disney had a more big name movies (besides Elemental, Inidana Jones, Little Mermaid), there were so many big movies released in such a short amount of time, I don’t know if it would have mattered? With stuff being released to streaming so fast, who is going to spend the moeny to see multiple movies in a row?
I do think we are on the downhill curve of superhero movies being blockbusters. And the fact we didn’t get a full Keaton Batman movie is disappointing.
Vena was gone before those hearings. I heard it was after Vanguard became top holder and wanted to see some growth. There was an opportunity for unit trains of export grain and he wouldn’t consider going after that business. This was before the later problems UP had that led to the hearings. (Those problems, the result of available crews and equipment were part of his doing for PSR.) Those one off, irregular moves would upset the PSR balance and he wouldn’t do it.
I think that was the last straw.
About all that’s left is to start selling off some of the fringes of the system. UP, when they first took over the CNW, thought about selling off the Iowa grain lines. Maybe some parts like that may be spun off. They may feel that they would still get most of the long haul portion while letting someone else service the elevators.
Jeff
I could see them pulling out of Wisconsin also - selling the Adams line Chicago to Minneapolis and the trackage rights from Necedah to Superior and the trackage rights from Tunnel City to Winona.
UP has short hauls from all those locations to Chicago.
CSX or NS might want to make a go of it for Chicago to Minneapolis and Superior.
It’s very disappointing UP picked Vena… I also don’t know why considering the current chair of the STB and his general stance on the present state of UP…
Jim Young’s passing has really haunted UP to this day…The organization has been lost ever since…
Wait, what? The board just gave him a contract extension two weeks ago.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/disney-bob-iger-contract-2-more-years-2026/
Since Iger has only been back as CEO since November, it would be impossible to point towards him for the failure of any movies over this year, as they would have been filmed when Chapek was in charge. I would think as a Disney stockholder you would understand that. This Disney stockholder does, and I am sure the board does as well.
I would opine that the failures of Disney movie production are further down the food chain. I seriously doubt that any CEO has any direct hand in the projects.
I’m sure that there have been some “next big thing” projects that have been pitched. If heads aren’t rolling in the creative departments, that’s management’s fault.