LTV's unhappy ending
There is no way to sugar coat what happened at the end of last week to LTV Corp.
A company that through mergers and acquisitions had consumed some of the proudest names in steelmaking will stop making steel.
LTV -- the initials once stood for Ling-Temco-Vought, a Texas-based conglomerate -- became the second largest steel company in June 1984 when it spent $770 million in a friendly take over of Republic Steel Corp. Through various mergers in the '70s it had acquired Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co. and Jones & amp; Laughlin Steel Corp.
At its end, LTV was the nation's third largest integrated steel company, a distinction once held by Sheet & amp; Tube.
That's some of the history, a history of mergers and buyouts and re-entrenchments and bankruptcies. While the history is long, LTV's future is short.
What's next: The agreement reached last week puts on hold until Feb. 28 a permanent shut down of LTV Steel, during which time efforts will be made to find financing, loan guarantees and buyers.
A matter of importance and disappointment to this area was the even shorter timeline given to LTV's Warren coke plant. LTV will be required to keep it running for only three weeks, and unless a bailout plan for that plant can be put together, it will be doomed. Once the plant goes cold, it will suffer virtually irreversible damage.
The company plans to sell Copperweld in Pittsburgh and LTV Tubular in Youngstown and will be back in bankruptcy court this week to discuss a loan to continue operations at those subsidiaries.
There will always be questions about what could have been done differently, and whether anything could have been done to save LTV.
But there is no doubt that the federal government failed the entire domestic steel industry by looking the other way in recent years while foreign steel flooded the U.S. market. The industry is finally getting some relief from the Bush administration, but for LTV it is too little, too late.
However, a crackdown on the dumping of foreign steel might save some of LTV's facilities. LTV had wanted to shut down immediately, but the negotiated agreement to keep the plants warm until February recognizes the possibility that a stronger emerging market for domestic steel might make those facilities viable in the hands of a new owner.
That will be small consolation to LTV's employees, its retirees and anyone who remembers the legacy of Sheet & amp; Tube, Republic and J & amp;L.
Farewell: Finally, no commentary on the fate of LTV could be complete without a mention of the mind-numbing arrogance of the company's former CEO, William Bricker.
This was a man brought in to save the company and who failed miserably. He did not, however, let that get him down. On his way out the door, he grabbed a $600,000 bonus and retired to Texas. Then from his comfortable retirement he took cheap shots at the people who were still trying to save something from the wreckage he abandoned.
Dante Alighieri might be able to dream up suitable post-retirement accommodations for the William Brickers of the world. Not in Texas, though; it's not nearly hot enough.