Final Word from Thursday, February 18, 2021
A defeated Marko Pařík of United Bakeries explained to HN in 2015 how Andrej Babiš swiped his company's business partners away after approaching Pařík and his brother in 2010 about a merger with Agrofert's Penam. "We were naive and trusting to a fault," Pařík said. "We completely showed our hand, because we truly thought the goal was to get to a deal that would be signed and would be irrevocable." But then the Slovak antitrust office blocked it, and Babiš walked away with the due diligence. He returned in 2018 to buy United Bakeries at a cut-rate price. A defeated Senate Pres. Miloš Vystrčil of ODS recounted a similar tale yesterday to Czech Radio. The same Andrej Babiš, this time as PM, refused the demands of the opposition for extending the state of emergency and then went to the regional governors with the same demands, which the governors had no choice but to accept, because the situation had suddenly changed. The result was a divided opposition, with governors going against their own MPs. "The opposition was naive," Vystrčil admitted. Who says you can't run a country like a company? [ Czech Republic extension Hospodářské noviny bakery bread ]
Glossary of difficult words
to swipe - to take over, to steal;
irrevocable - not able to be changed, reversed or recovered; final: an irrevocable step;
due diligence - a comprehensive appraisal of a business undertaken by a prospective buyer, esp. to establish its assets and liabilities and to evaluate its commercial potential;
to recount - to tell someone about something;
due diligence - a comprehensive appraisal of a business undertaken by a prospective buyer, esp. to establish its assets and liabilities and evaluate its commercial potential;
cut-rate - for sale at a reduced or unusually low price.