WASHINGTON — Yellow Corp. has rejected an offer from an executive at trucking company Jack Cooper who wanted to bid, buy and restructure the failed less-than-load carrier.
According to the New York Times, Yellow’s lawyers contended that the bid was “not viable,” saying “they had not gotten any indication that the bid had the support of the company’s creditors, including the Treasury Department, which had made an emergency loan to the company during the pandemic.”
The letter, a copy of which was reviewed by The New York Times on Nov. 7, also said the plan to revive Yellow underestimated the costs and difficulties of such an effort.
The bid would not be “confirmable by a bankruptcy court or in the best interests of Yellow’s stakeholders,” the letter said, according to the Times.
Yellow filed for bankruptcy protection in August after several weeks of heated negotiations with the Teamsters Union.
The company announced it was shutting down on July 30.
“Sarah Riggs Amico, executive chairwoman of the auto hauling trucking company Jack Cooper, defended her proposal, saying that it had strong financial backing and had been put together with the help of dozens of trucking experts, including former Yellow executives,” according to the New York Times.
She had wanted her plan to include employing 15,000 people, which is about half the number that had worked for Yellow before its leaders shuttered the company and filed for bankruptcy.
The offer’s rejection comes just days after XPO and Estes won bids for some of Yellow’s remains.
XPO has won a bid to purchase 28 of Yellow’s service centers for $870 million, while Estes won 24 terminals valued at nearly $250 million.
On Dec. 18, the process of auctioning Yellow’s 140-plus leased terminals is set to begin.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
