Sixers

Joshua Harris Has Saved Twinkies, America

By Kyle Scott

Published: Apr 26th, 2013 · 11:40 AM EDT

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Sixers owners Joshua Harris and Marc Leder were on a crusade to save all the Ho-Hos, it would seem.

Back in November, Leder, the Mitt Romney-supportin‘, sex-party throwing‘,kid-fatherin‘ co-owner of your Philadelphia 76ers, through his company, Sun Capital, expressed interested in saving Hostess from bankruptcy and bringing them back from the dead. At some point, that deal fell through… and that’s where Harris’ company, Apollo Global Management, stepped in. They bought Hostess in March and today announced that they would be re-opening four factories, in effect, saving all the Ho Hos: [ABC News]

But last month Apollo Global Management, LLC, and Metropoulos & Co., which owns Pabst Blue Ribbon and Vlasic pickles, bought the 83-year-old company for $410 million, renaming it Hostess Brands LLC. It is planning to re-open four bakeries over the next two and a half months, in Columbus, Ga.; Emporia, Kan.; Schiller Park, Ill.; and Indianapolis. It is also contemplating a fifth in Los Angeles.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, C. Dean Metropoulos, the company’s chief executive, said that between now and September, he plans to inject $60 million in capital investments into the plants, and hopes to hire at least 1,500 workers.

But those workers won’t be unionized.

This is news today because Hostess will re-open without union workers, those pesky Americans who nearly forced the company into extinction last year. That surely won’t sit well with some folks, but it’s capitalism at work. Earn your dough. No freebies. No handouts. The power of collective bargaining be damed– Harris wants you to work for your money. Work hard, play hard, right? Oh, what’s that, Scoob? Harris and friends paid $32 million to Andrew Bynum and Elton Brand to not play for the Sixers this year? Oh… oh. Oh well. Not every investment can work out. But at least we’ll have our Twinkies back. Harris smash!