buyout plan

So boasts Bredesen:

Tennessee’s willingness to address worsening economic conditions without “playing games” could help solidify the state’s credit rating, said Bredesen.

From Joe White:

State officials made reporters leave an informational meeting about the “voluntary buyout plan” for state employees today in Nashville. State Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz claimed he was protecting the privacy of employees, whom the administration is trying to buyout.

By THEO EMERY • Staff Writer (Tennessean) • June 17, 2008

State workers will begin checking mailboxes after buyout packets went out Monday to about 12,000 employees, an effort to trim about 2,000 positions and cut $64 million from next year's budget.

Packets set to go out week of June 16

The legislature has adjourned passing a budget containing $468 million in cuts:

Several employees will be offered a cash buyout plan to leave on their own. This program could cost $50 million. Affected employees will receive the offer by June 6.

“Look, this is complicated; it’s legally complicated,” Bredesen said Friday. “It’s complicated just getting the numbers right so that we can have a program that fits within the program we have allocated to it.”

By ERIK SCHELZIG • Associated Press Writer • May 12, 2008

The prospect of lucrative buyout packages is leading some state employees to put their retirement plans on hold.

After working for private companies most of my life, the last 3 years have been an education in the ups and downs of a publically traded company.

Since Acxiom bought Nashville's SmartDM in 2005, there has been a hostile takeover attempt thwarted, an agreed to buyout plan by the same suitors...which ultimately fell through.  The stock has gone up and mostly down.  The CEO who took Acxiom public