What was actually announced today?

[toto]

The other threads are roaring off in various directions, but I'm trying to understand what actually happened. 

There's a new management group, comprised of owners and fans, and they're supporting the partnership with the Meijing group. 

What does that mean? Was there a change in ownership? If so, who is the new owner, and what is their relationship with Meijing?

[toto]

For the benefit of future searchers, I've retyped the announcement here.  The version on the Mooney website is a giant image, and not super search friendly.  (Note I've fixed the Kerrville spelling, just in case you're searching for the word "Kerrville.")

Quote

To the Mooney Community:

We are pleased to announce that as of September 1, 2020, a long awaited transition at Mooney took place.  There is new management at Mooney and it's made up entirely of pilots and Mooney owners giving the company a unique and valuable perspective going forward.  So, on behalf of new management, I wanted to take this opportunity to inform you that the reports of Mooney's death are greatly exaggerated.  Mooney is, in fact, very much alive, up and running.

You can expect to see some changes at Mooney which we believe are long overdue.  Plan to witness a new culture and approach which is reflective of the new ownership's love of aviation, flying an Mooney aircraft.

Our first priority is to reengage and rebuild our relationship with the Mooney Community.  For those of you who are Mooney pilots and owners, folks that make a living selling or fixing Mooney aircraft, or just fans of Mooney, we want you to know that we recognize that you are our life's blood.  You are our best spokespeople, our most informed advocates and our most loyal customers.  It is our goal to do right by you and rebuild your trust in Mooney.  In fact, our number one priority is to build a customer support infrastructure that can capably reward your loyalty which has been the hallmark of the Mooney consumer for years.

Our first and immediate focus is to make sure that we're properly servicing the community's fleet of over 7000 aircraft.  For the last 6 months, we've taken over parts production and managed to keep the spares moving to the service centers.  We have plans to improve our efficiency so that parts are easier to order and arrive sooner.

We're also working on those challenges that have gone unresolved to date.  A useful load increase retrofit is in the works.  Once this is tackled, it will allow us to consider other design challenges such as a ballistic parachute, auto-land and a larger cabin.

As a first step toward earning your confidence, we're pleased to announce that we recently secured FAA approval over and will be offering an upgrade to the Legacy G1000 software.  It will allow ADS-B to play with the G1000 so you'll get traffic, free weather and all available approaches on your display.  We'll also be offering a carbon cowl for the Ovations which will immediately improve useful load.  Coming soon will be the long-awaited upgrade from NXiI to NXiII.  We're also working on an upgrade from the G1000 Legacy to NXiI and NxiII.

We also want to extend our hand to the Mooney Community outside of the United States.  In partnership an in support of the Meijing Group, we have a unique opportunity to create an international Mooney network that reaches the many Mooney owners and operators across the globe while growing their numbers.  As the Mooney Community grows, we will all benefit.

All of the changes we anticipate are important, exciting and we believe will benefit both Mooney and the Mooney community.  But they're not always simple or easy to implement so we ask you to be patient.  And as we work on ideas to improve your experience with Mooney, I promise to be in touch with you as we roll them out.

Finally, I want to say a brief word about the folks who work at the Kerrville plant.  For the last 6 months I've been overseeing a skeleton crew at the factory.  They have been tasked with keeping Mooney alive during a period of instability and stress, not to mention a pandemic.  They had no idea whether this change in control would ultimately take place or whether Mooney would even continue to operate, but they put their heads down and forged ahead.  They are all dedicated workers and people of great integrity and I'm proud of them.  They, along with the Kerrville community, including those workers who were furloughed but who sometimes stepped into help, are the heart and soul of Mooney and I thank them.

Warmly,

Jonny Pollack
CEO

http://www.mooney.com/

[carusoam]

Expect more details...

Try not to hold spelling errors against them...

We aren’t doing very well ourselves...

There is a limit though... For the BK fans that had to read the WAAS navigator brochure... spelled WASS...

Somethings get a little wacky every now and then...

It is most important what they say, not how they say it...

Stay focussed the good times are about to rock!

-a-

[toto]

Just now, carusoam said:

Try not to hold spelling errors against them...

Yeah, the spelling errors are no big deal - but it did seem like "Kerrville" was a term that people are likely to search for on MS.  And it's easy enough to fix

[carusoam]

Quality and continuous improvement... from top to bottom...   

It is part of the company’s culture...

What they need... is a carusoam on their team...   

Best regards,

-a-

[ziggysanchez]

From what I understand the Chinese no longer own Mooney. A group of American investors has acquired Mooney and is on their way to making the changes stated in the announcement that was released today. Don Maxwell posted a message today on this forum titled "New Mooney Ownership Today." I've spoken with Don and with others and like I said the way I understand it is that Mooney has once again completely changed hands and is under completely new ownership.

[Skates97]

From a number of conversations, my understanding is that the Chinese group was going to be a 20% owner. I don't know if that is what the final number was when the deal was done. Expect more details to emerge. 

[Bravoman]

6 hours ago, carusoam said:

Quality and continuous improvement... from top to bottom...   

It iSync part of the cooughtmpany’s culture...

What they need... is a carusoam on their team...   

Best regards,

-a-

I think what really happened is that Anthony bought the company and despite earlier proclamations to the contrary is a manufacturing, marketing, and sales guy!

[Greg Ellis]

57 minutes ago, Bravoman said:

I think what really happened is that Anthony bought the company and despite earlier proclamations to the contrary is a manufacturing, marketing, and sales guy!

On another thread about Mooney vs Cirrus in terms of sales and marketing, I said that Mooney would completely outsell all other aircraft manufacturers if @carusoam was marketing for Mooney!!!

[Mooney in Oz]

7 hours ago, carusoam said:

What they need... is a carusoam on their team..

I vote 1 for Anthony, Mike Elliott and Bob Kromer to be on the Advisory Board.

I mean this in all seriousness and respect.

[Cruiser]

Jonathan Pollack is a Senior Managing Director and Global Head of the Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies group and is based in New York. I don't know if this is "Jonny Pollack" 

Blackstone should be a familiar name to the Mooney group.

Some other names you might recognize..............

Kevin Hawley

Kevin Kammer

Barry Hodkin

In any regard, I am extremely excited that Mooney is continuing as a company and will build and support the Mooney community into the future. 

 

 

[Mooney in Oz]

2 minutes ago, Cruiser said:

Barry Hodkin

I met Barry when I visited the factory during a Homecoming back in 09.

He was the Financial Controller in those days. I see he still retains that position and has also been elevated to Vice President.

I also remember he had a strong British accent.  He might be related to @Hyett6420  

 

[Parker_Woodruff]

80% of Mooney was sold to new ownership.

[rocketman]

https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/news/the-latest/2020/09/03/new-owners-management-at-mooney/

[gsxrpilot]

It would be interesting to know who owns the 80%.

[Hank]

8 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

It would be interesting to know who owns the 80%.

No, no, no! It's not me . . . . . .

[rocketman]

Might want to talk to Mike Elliott. He is on top of everything Mooney. He is a walking dictionary of Mooney safety, planes, parts, obviously flight instruction, Mooney ownership, managerial people, and just about everything you can imagine. The only thing he lacks is an AP - IA.

[rocketman]

8 hours ago, Mooney in Oz said:

I vote 1 for Anthony, Mike Elliott and Bob Kromer to be on the Advisory Board.

I mean this in all seriousness and respect.

They would be very very good and would run the company like it should

[carusoam]

I know a thread...

Where we can get Mike started on his AP/IA....  

I’ll build the flash cards to support his effort!  I do the electronic version... 

Holy cow the AP takes many hours.... and skill... 

I’m pretty sure, Mike wouldn’t need the AP/IA to do his next important job...

But I would support his effort! 

Go Mooney!

Best regards,

-a-

[rocketman]

I would be willing to chip in and pay for his AP then IA if he would do it. All he needs is the certificate, he can recite everything forwards and backwards, and then some.

 

[mike_elliott]

Dudes, my insurance is high enough now. Race cars and buildings are one thing, but Mooneys, lets let JD, Don, Lynn, Eric, PJ, Jake, Et al. deal with high customer expectations. 

I bought that prevogen stuff... , just cant remember where I put it.

 

[WilliamR]

So, an entertainment lawyer who's qualification is being a Mooney owner will run a small town, Texas aviation manufacturer and finds a sponsor in Wyoming?  I bet that was an interesting capital committee meeting at the sponsor.  Likely, that meeting was heavily weighted to international opportunities.  Wonder what the long term cash flow projections look like?   

I guess given Mr. Saxena had extensive aviation manufacturing experience only lasted a hot minute, why not go completely in another direction for a manager.  A small firm with these type of operational issues needs someone, inexhaustible, willing to get into the minutia, and very detailed oriented.  Is Mr. Pollack that kind of person?  This is not the first time a product owner became the CEO of an aircraft manufacturing company.  Eclipse and Epic come to mind.  However, at least those CEOs had manufacturing experience. One made it, one didn't.  Completely different capital structures, though.  Epic's is more like Mooney's.  So, that's good.  The further upside is that US Fin must be an activist investor since someone piloting this ship should know something about finance/accounting and how to create efficiencies. 

Sorry this seems cynical.  I only know of what I've read so far on the interwebs.  So, take my comments with a grain of salt.  However, I have been a capital provider to privately owned companies with similar problems (both management and operational).  I've seen enough of what works and what doesn't.  A big factor of success is also how big US Financial's fund is and where they are compared to their return hurdles. 

The focus on gross margin and the list of aircraft improvements for existing and future aircraft do seem right on. A pilot advisory board is a fantastic idea for this company.

William

[Missile=Awesome]

39 minutes ago, 1980Mooney said:

This reminds me of Commander Aircraft in 2005.  Well at least they still build parts.

And that’s alright by me...

 

[Tim Jodice]

12 minutes ago, Missile=Awesome said:

And that’s alright by me...

 

Me too!

[HRM]

Talk about a bunch of old biddies.

Who cares? MOONEY IS BACK!