The situation BlueScope finds itself in is good news for at least one group of people - the shareholders.
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BlueScope CEO Paul O'Malley announced a profit on Monday.
With that came news that $200 million - including 500 jobs - would need to be cut to save the Port Kembla steelworks.
If that target wasn't finalised in three months, the gates would close.
What was terrible news for the Illawarra was good news for shareholders.
On Thursday, BlueScope's share price closed at $4.11 - the highest it had been since April 8.
The share price has been climbing in the wake of Monday's announcement - it has put on 21 per cent since it closed at $3.38 on Friday last week.
Indications on Friday were that it hadn't finished climbing - by early afternoon the share price had hit $4.24.
Meanwhile, Throsby MP Stephen Jones has said Mr O'Malley is doing "the best job he can".
Speaking on ABC Radio National about Port Kembla and the job cuts, Mr Jones gave the BlueScope CEO credit for the work he was doing in the current situation.
"He's got his bankers and his shareholders on one hand and he's got people like me, the unions and community representatives saying we want to continue to make steel in this region and this country," Mr Jones said. "His response is - well, we have got to be able to do it profitably. That means we have got to be able to make steel at the same prices that we can land it here, that is the price that we import it.
"That means making some changes, I think that we can work our way through this. I think as the largest exporter of coking coal, that is steelmaking coal, and iron ore in the world we can also keep some of it here and turn that into steel.
"We've just got to have a wholly productive steelworks."
Mr Jones admitted this meant job losses at Port Kembla were inevitable.
"I think everyone accepts that there is going to have to be changes at the steelworks," he said. "That will mean some job losses and job losses have been going on. It's not like year one starts today, job losses have been going on almost continuously.
"There is actually less than 5000 people directly employed in the steelworks today."