This is Bad News.
The CFO is the guy that knows the details of the financial situation. He's using his leverage to extract every last dollar from the company.
What's the chance he'll work past Feb 1? About zero. What's the chance he'll do this in his next job? About 100%.
From personal experience, if a turn-around does happen, the dedicated people that took a reduced or no salary will be lucky to have their previous salary restored, with no catch-up pay. Those that demanded a retention bump in pay because of the risk get to keep that as their new base salary.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
