Valiant effort to screw workforce and mortgage future, for what?

Pearson’s gone. Valeant says it’s no longer a roll-up company. Their joint contribution to capitalism is profound, writes Terry Prone

It seemed the wrong time to be leaving the company. The boom, at the time, could not have been better, and the company had a new CEO who had everything going for him. He was young, good looking, driven, and because of all of those factors, he was much profiled in the business pages. This, as always happens in Irish business, quite pleased those working in the company, who made sure they didn’t seem too bought-in by referring to him as Our Hero.

Our Hero was expected to appoint a deputy from the Lead Team. He, too, had a nickname. He was known as Heavy Lifter. This confused me the first time I met him, because Heavy Lifter was a marathoner with the skinny shoulders and sinewy frailty associated with that crowd of mad yokes. It had to be explained to me that Our Hero had got to where he was because of the heavy lifting done by the other guy.