The company faced net revenue losses of $7.3 million in the 2nd quarter of 1997 ending March 31 and would have been worse if $2 million in dividends were not suspended. The previous quarter loss was $14.3 million even after selling assets such as the corporate jet. In April 1997 OMC hired Salomon Brothers to explore future option such as a buyout or merger. In 1997 Detroit Diesel made a $16 a share bid for OMC. They were outbid at $18 a share by Alfred Kingsley who previously owned 2 million shares purchased at $17 a share and had no experience in the outboard industry. The deal was backed by George Soros. Carl Icahn, a corporate raider who bought TWA in 1988, is said to blame Kingsley his lieutenant during the 1980s for the ensuing TWA bankruptcy a few years later. David Jones - former Mercury Marine Division president until August 1997 - was hired by Kingsley in September 1997 to become the President and CEO of OMC, but resigned in August 2000 due to financial turmoil at OMC. In March 1998 OMC laid off 200 employees after earlier laying off 348. In September 1998 OMC announced the closure of their Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Waukegan, IL plants over the next two years.