Julia Stewart’s acquisition of the Applebee’s chain will go down as one of the worst acquisition in the history of the Restaurant Industry. At the time of the acquisition the stock was $65, today its below $20 and going lower.

Today, DIN announced that resignation of Thomas G. Conforti, its Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. In the press release, Julia Stewart went to praise him for his service to the firm. Yet, taking a closer look that the 8K shows that he was more likely fired and did not resign.

Item (d) in the separation agreement states that;
The Company shall make available to Executive for a period of up to 18 months following the Effective Date, at the Company’s expense, executive-level outplacement assistance benefits through Right Management or another outplacement firm of Executive’s choice, provided that such benefits shall be capped at $12,000.00 and will be paid by the Company directly to the provider.

In the normal course of resigning voluntarily from a job you don’t get out-placement services!