
Even Wall Street mavens like Ron Perleman and "Chainsaw Al" Dunlap can get one term confused for the other and find themselves in trouble.
That's how Sunbeam got in trouble in 2001.
Unfortunately they layered on over one billion dollars in debt to finance their purchases and ended up not able to make their loan payments - even though they were supposedly building equity with every purchase.
The end result was that Hacksaw Al lost his job and the banks ended up owning the company for a period of time. Bad news and bad business for everyone involved.
Perhaps a little more clarity regarding the true nature of the "equity" they were building would have left fewer people with a bad taste in their mouth.
Regards, Peter
202-404-5000