INVESTORS PUSH YIPES TO TAKE A MULLIGAN

摘要

In one of his last acts as CEO, Yipes' Jerry Parrick took a page from today's corporate survival manual: filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and arranging for debtor-in-possession financing to get the metro optical Ethernet provider past a funding shortfall. While the maneuver will give Yipes the leverage it needs to renegotiate a more favorable deal with its creditors, it is only part of the total solution. The company ultimately will need to rewrite its business plan to survive in a market segment that still shows a great deal of promise but has been hampered by slower-than-expected growth rates. When the bottom dropped out of the economy, Yipes, like many telecom service providers, began to feel the pinch. Currently, the company needs about $100 million to reach cash flow break-even. In an interview last week, Parrick said investors have told him that they still believe in the company's value proposition, business plan and architecture, and were willing to stay out on the limb with him. They just didn't want to slide too far away from the trunk.