‘Chainsaw Al’ Slices Through Fat Sunbeam Boss Earns Reputation For Drastic Layoffs, Cutbacks
“Chainsaw Al” Dunlap is at it again.
Once more, Albert J. Dunlap is slashing people and product lines to turn what he believes to be a head of cabbage into cole slaw. This time he is using his slicing and dicing skills at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Sunbeam Corp., where he is eliminating half the company’s 12,000 jobs and unloading 87 percent of a 5,000-item product lineup.
It is a reprise of his actions at Scott Paper Co., where Dunlap’s cutting skills turned the stodgy, undervalued company into profitable plum that was eventually swallowed by Kimberly-Clark Corp. He did the same earlier at Lily-Tulip Inc., a paper cup manufacturer that went on to merge with Fort Howard Paper Co., and Consolidated Press Holdings Ltd., an Australian television and magazine empire.
It is an in-your-face style that has generated mixed reviews, with CEOs and shareholders looking to Dunlap as a guide and champion and critics bemoaning the costs - lost jobs and possibly weaker companies.
There are no apologies from Dunlap, who likens himself to a sports superstar in his book “Mean Business: How I Save Bad Companies and Make Good Companies Great.”
“I don’t want the status quo.”
“Chainsaw Al” began to stir things up while working at the side of Sir James Goldsmith, when the Anglo-French financier waged some of the great takeover battles of the ‘80s.
He was among Goldsmith’s top aides during attempted takeovers of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and B.A.T Industries PLC.
His slash-and-burn style has won applause from Wall Street. Sunbeam’s stock soared from $12.25 a share to $18.62 even before he showed up for work.