Tim Mekeel Armstrong World Industries Inc. has 140 years of experience in manufacturing. It has zero years of experience in bankruptcy.
Top help costs top dollar, sums that reach six and seven figures.
But an Armstrong spokesman justified the expense as a necessary one, given the complexity and size of the restructuring case, filed under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. When a Fortune 500 company does this, you need a certain caliber of talent. Armstrong blamed the bankruptcy on the growing cost of asbestos-injury lawsuits, stemming from the marketing of asbestos insulation decades ago. Armstrong ceased selling that product in 1969. The company emphasizes that its ongoing businesses of making floors and ceilings are profitable.