HUSS Making a Comeback

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HUSS_Maschinenfabrik

Wikipedia said it so it must be true.

I find it much more interesting that Germany has the same tax codes that we do here in the US.

Well, they don't have the exact same tax codes, but, some of the bankruptcy parts are very similar to our bankruptcy filings. The closest US version of what HUSS filed for in Europe was Chapter 11, in fact, the two are very, very similar. When I initially heard the preliminary news around late June, I knew that they would be continuing business as normally as possible under the situations, and that they did have an alternate business set up and ready to go, so to speak. I just didn't think it would go this fast. I was expecting it to take about a half year to a year.

One of the things that enthusiasts don't seem to understand is that bankruptcy doesn't always mean the company is going out of business. Unless the company is so totally worthless and can't pay its creditors (like CCI), the move is to protect itself from creditors while it gets things under control.

The parent company of Cypress Gardens is a good example of that. The triple hurricane damage from a year or two ago strained an otherwise successful business, so they filed for Chapter 11. There's no reason why they can't continue to be successful, but as they reorganize their debt they need the protection from creditors so that they don't start placing a lien on everything they own.

I'm not sure how Huss managed to get themselves in a pickle (maybe the ongoing R&D and fixes for rides like the Giant Topspin), but I'm sure they'll come out OK in the end unless they do something really stupid.

I am happy that they are coming back so they can make some more thrill rides for Cedar Point and Kings Island.

But they never actually went away. You can't actually come back if you never went away in the first place.

^^^ I hear you, Jeff (or more accurately, I read you ;) ). While it's true that many companies do emerge from bankruptcy, very often such corporations have two strikes against them, to wit:

(1) They have a great deal of debt to pay off.

(2) They have bad management practices and cash flow control, that led to (1) and which must be redressed before they can stop adding red ink, let alone pay off old debt.

In Cypress Gardens' case, the hurricane is a bit of a bugaboo. If you read the articles, the hurricane actually only contributed a small percentage (less than 25%) of their total debt.

It's true that enthusiasts often don't realize that bankruptcy is not necessarily the end of the world, as you stated, but it's also true that it is not a good thing, either. In fact, it can be a very, very hard thing for a company to get out from under.