Any Real Madrid fans here? Maybe you would know about Rubén de la Red Gutiérrez, former Real Madrid midfield and of Spain’s squad at the victorious UEFA Euro 2008 tournament.
De la Red was a talented player who suffered from a serious heart ailment which put his career on hold for two years, until he finally retired in late 2010 at the age of 25. In January 2010, newspapers reported that Real Madrid was attempting to declare de la Red’s heart problem to be “a common condition”, and therefore find a way to annul his contract. As a consequence, the player would only receive a €1,500-monthly disability benefit, rather than the full wages due from the remaining two years of his professional contract, which was worth millions of Euros.
The case of de la Red actually reminds me of a class when we were talking about assets. What is an asset? By definition, it is “a single item of ownership having exchange value.” According to Jamie Flinchbaugh, assets are on balance sheets so that you can value your business particularly if you need to liquidate it. Banks provide asset-based lending and the assets are the collateral. Should people, or more accurately, employees be considered as collaterals? Basically I have no idea what the correct answer is. Many entrepreneurs emphasize that employees should be treated as partners, but in territories such as the professional sports world, athletes are treated as assets and are sold to different clubs or casted aside when they are no longer valuable.
What do you think?
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rub%C3%A9n_de_la_Red
http://jamieflinchbaugh.com/2010/10/people-are-not-assets/
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