Trucker Yellow Paid Managers Millions Just Before Bankruptcy (1)

Just weeks before closing its doors and dismissing thousands of employees, Yellow Corp. doled out millions of dollars in bonuses to executives so they wouldn’t leave the trucking firm during its chaotic unraveling, court papers show.

Yellow paid bonuses totaling about $4.6 million to eight current and two former executives in the weeks before the company went bankrupt with plans to liquidate, according to corporate disclosures in Delaware bankruptcy court. The figure is higher than it would have been had Yellow managed to avoid a sudden bankruptcy filing, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Yellow Corp. trucks and trailers at a facility in Ohio.

Photographer: Sue Ogrocki/AP

Of the bonuses ...