UK Gov't Outlines Plans To Privatize Royal Mail 220
Ellie K writes "After 500 years, Britain announced plans to fully privatize Royal Mail today. Shares of stock (common equity) will be offered to the public 'in coming weeks', according to Reuters. 10% of shares will be given to current Royal Mail employees, Deal size is estimated at $US 3 to 4.7 billion. Goldman Sachs and UBS were chosen as lead advisers." That doesn't mean you'll be able to buy a piece tomorrow, though; as the BBC's report notes, "The plans have provoked strong opposition from unions. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is currently balloting members on strike action. Ballot papers are due to go out on 20 September to 125,000 Royal Mail workers. The earliest possible strike date would be 10 October. Plans to privatise the 250-year-old postal service have been on successive governments' agendas since the early 1990s."
That's wonderful! (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder how much of that money generated by the government, which it doesn't need, as it's obviously not spending more than it gets from taxes, will be distributed to each citizen.
I'm sure a simple division of the three billion dollars among the population would work, but maybe they come up with a distribution strategy that gives more to those who have less.
The Unseen University calls dibs. (Score:4, Funny)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Postal [wikipedia.org]
Re:About as well as any other UK privitisation (Score:0, Funny)
Britain's Got Talent
*snicker*
Re:The beaten spouse says, "It's different this ti (Score:3, Funny)
So aside from the long list of epic failures, privatisation works very well in the one or two companies that aren't a disaster.
By that reckoning the Soviet Union worked very well because they were awesome at rocketry and chess.