To thyself be true
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Jim Cramer's from 2009 - TheStreet.com.
Worst Run Companies of 2009
10/21/09
Sirius XM Radio(SIRI Quote): That this company hasn't made my list in the past is a major oversight on my part. Sirius XM -- the merger of two poorly managed and capitalized companies, Sirius and XM -- is a classic case of a great product (satellite radio) coupled with a bad business model. The company is burdened with more than $3 billion in long-term debt and $4.5 billion of intangibles and goodwill. The strategy of giving large deals to big-name stars such as Howard Stern and Chris "Mad Dog" Russo doesn't really seem to have paid off. Management relied heavily on the automobile industry to spur sales, and we know how successful that has been. Perhaps government-sponsored cash for transistor radio program could help Sirius survive. Its date with destiny will be in bankruptcy court.
Me too, saw this on Siri board.
Malone is going for Global Satellite Radio around the world.
22 mil subscribers now will see order of magnitudes increase.
Interesting developments in the Sat Radio industry, from SIRI board.
Wonder if WRSPQ could come into play with their rights around the world. Maybe too far fetched, but hey we can always dream. Plus the NOL's are still viable.
toby3
Post # of 26767
OK heres a thought
Mells gonna leave sirius on feb 1 because it seems John Malone & Mel do not see eye to eye. I heard Mel say once, Howard Stern too that maybe they will do internet radio
Now I hear Apples gonna have an internet radio ready to go around February 2013.???
Is it possible that maybe Mel Karmazon has cut a deal with apple to be the president of Apple worldwide internet radio??
Then lets go 1 step further, could Mel already be setting Apple to BUY OUT SIRIUS , ( which they can with 120 billion in cash) Fire Malone
And Mel karmazon becomes the new president of Sirius/Apple satellite and internet world wide radio??? GL Either way I will hold Sirius for a while Bye
Bought SIRI Feb 17 2009 for pennies a share (that was a gamble) Then Liberty Media came into the picture as a beneficial owners on March 1, 2009, with an investment of 1/2 billion dollars. I knew big things were brewing. Nobody would put that kind of money on anything if they didn't have big plans.
Been right so far. Watch Malone do his magic. Best stock I have ever owned. More big things are coming. Now this is not such a gamble anymore.....lol
Ditto with both of you.
Interesting comment from SIRI board
LMCA and SIRI developing globalization for Satellite Radio?
+22 mil subscribers and going higher, much higher!
I don't know, all of a sudden nothing? Maybe she gave up or she is just waiting.
Did anyone else hear David Faber (I think that is his name) on CNBC this morning, comments on Liberty splitting the Companies up. Then he commented that John Malone never pays tax. Strong statement on air. The Nol's might come into play with WRSPQ after all.
When it discharges the Q in the symbol will drop off. That is the only thing I know. It was added when the bankruptcy started. The shell re-post was just some general information.
Here is a repost about a clean shell and what it means.
Going public through a reverse merger (shell), this is an example.
Success, May, 1998 by Elaine Pofeldt
Who needs an IPO when you can buy a corporate shell and take your company public -- instantly?
Imagine how easy your life would be if you could simply flick a switch and raise all the money you needed to create the kind of high-growth business that would leave your competitors in the dust.
That's pretty much What Stephen Dresnick, M.D., did back in 1994. At the time, the Miami physician was running Sterling Healthcare, which staffed 44 hospital emergency rooms. Only seven years old, the company he'd founded was churning out $60 million a year in revenue. It was the perfect moment for him to branch out to more hospitals and begin purchasing some private medical practices. There was one catch: three rivals-had the same basic idea.
Dresnick knew that if he didn't raise big bucks quickly, they'd secure the best doctor's offices and emergency-room contracts before he had a chance. But he'd already exhausted his credit by borrowing to finance the company's growth. Looking for alternatives, he joined Young Presidents' Organization, a networking group for entrepreneurs. He began asking CEOs who'd gone public what advice they'd give someone who was thinking of doing the same.
One of them referred him to a lawyer who suggested a rapid-fire way to go public, called the reverse merger. It is a sort of friendly body-snatching operation wherein you buy the legal framework (known as a shell corporation, or shell) of a publicly traded corporation and have your attorney do all the paperwork necessary to merge your company into it, a process that takes you public. (It's called a reverse merger because you're backing your company into the other firm.)
Where do these shell companies come from? Sometimes people in the securities industry create them to sell to entrepreneurs for exactly this purpose. At other times an entrepreneur takes his company public, but the offering fails and he goes out of business; to recoup some of the money it cost him to go public, he'll sell the shell that remains.
Dresnick found that a reverse merger would have two major advantages for a company like his. To begin with, it was usually faster than the two more traditional ways in which entrepreneurial companies go public: the initial public offering (wherein a broker sells your stock to investors) and the direct public offering (wherein you sell shares directly to your customers). The second benefit was that because the shell corporation was already registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he could leapfrog most of the application process that slows down IPOs and DPOs. The beauty part was that when it was all done he'd gain the same advantages any other public corporation had, namely, the ability to use shares of his company as currency to buy other businesses.
On his lawyer's advice, Dresnick began shopping for a "clean shell" -- one that didn't come with baggage like lawsuits left over from the previous owner or shares that were sold to people who couldn't be accounted for and who could, conceivably, sell their stock without warning and drive down the price. Asking around in the business community, he found a shell corporation where someone he knew sat on the board of directors.
After his lawyer checked out all the paperwork on the shell, Dresnick took Sterling Healthcare public on the OTC bulletin board in a reverse merger in 1994, later moving up to the more stringent and prestigious American Stock Exchange. Over the next two years, the company signed contracts with 160 other emergency rooms and bought up 10 medical practices. By 1996 it had $136 million in revenue. Ultimately Dresnick's company was itself gobbled up by another competitor, FPA Medical Management in San Diego. Sterling received $220 million for its share. "I never thought it would be quite as big as it became," Dresnick says today
Doing a reverse merger can be the perfect strategy for a company, like Dresnick's, that needs to go public rapidly and is looking for some currency other than cash, usually to enable it to buy up other businesses, says Nancy Cass, an attorney specializing in securities law and a partner in Cass & Graham in Tampa, Fla. But -- and it's a big but -- they're not for everyone.
Although they're less costly than an IPO, which can run you $1 million, they're still costly. You'll need to allot between $75,000 and $250,000 in fees to the person who sells you a shell and puts your deal together, plus 5 to 30 percent of the value of the public company that the shell corporation holds, say securities-industry sources. And the price may go even higher if the shell comes with money in it, has kept its SEC paperwork up to date, or has a large percentage of shares available for you to control (ones not already owned by existing stockholders). That's not even counting what you'll pay your lawyer, accountant, and printer. According to Cass, the total tab puts the reverse merger outside the scope of companies with profits of less than $250 million, since such businesses usually can't cover the costs of being a public company
But there's another, more serious consideration -- a dark side to the shell game. If you should be so unfortunate as to buy your shell from the wrong people or simply buy the wrong kind of shell, the results could be disastrous -- to wit, your formerly prosperous company could be reduced to a pile of smoking rubble. And there's no end to unscrupulous characters, ranging from investment bankers to consultants, business brokers, and lawyers, who would like nothing better than to help you destroy yourself.
Clean shells are hard to come by.
Sure looks like someone is accumulating. I don't know if it is one or more. There are so few shares left by now.
Why do you think we are still holding....lol Either it is a tax write off or it explodes. Hope the latter.
Good post. I am holding, too. There are the NOLs, that could be of use to Malone. I am in Vegas and it looks like one of the casino slot plays....lol
NY73- Yes I noticed it too late to change. Sorry
Examples
Chapter 7 discharges all debt releasing you from ever having to pay them back (with some exceptions) Chapter 7 bankruptcy is designed for people that have few assets and little disposable or extra income. Chapter 7 is sometimes called “income protection,” because by surrendering to the bankruptcy court your nonexempt assets (assets over and above those things that you may keep by law when you file bankruptcy) you are protecting all of your future earnings. Should your future earnings increase, even if you became a millionaire, you can keep what you earn. Many famous people have filed Chapter 7 including Walt Disney, Donald Trump and Willie Nelson
No surprise if Worldspace could be a random investment.
Quotes about
Liberty Media is the Pac-Man that keeps chomping: The acquisition-hungry company.
Adding to the collection
Liberty loves to invest in vaguely entertainment-related entities.
This is according to the company's literature.
It also has substantial pieces of several publicly traded big names
That's an eclectic mix, to put it mildly. But there's a determined strategy behind the apparent randomness.
You will be able to write it off like $3000 a year. I have been doing that from another stock for years now....lol
So why are you interested in WorldSpace? I would think if you don't own stock in this company, you wouldn't be interested. I know I wouldn't. What's up, just sour grapes?
They have a HUGE library! eom
Stock is still trading, it isn't a defunct company.
Why would someone want to sell so close to when we will find out something?
It might be removed, because of the bankruptcy proceedings, it doesn't mean it is gone or dead. The library is still there.
They have a huge library. There is a lot of money in libraries of music and video. I like this part:
"We'll review the shows and let you know what's worth seeing. We'll also travel the globe to bring you coverage of some top World Music events from all over the planet. We've been covering these events for years, so our archive is full. We'll dig into the library and feature plenty of stuff we've collected over the last decade...interview clips, performance excerpts, photos, videos, archived articles and much more. There will be plenty to see and hear for the true World Music fan.?
On Apple iTunes, neat links you find. Worldspace is in Wash. DC.
About exit from Chapter 11 etc.....
# When do companies exit from Chapter 11?
Companies exit Chapter 11 after the court approves the company's Chapter 11 plan of reorganization and the transactions and payments proposed in the plan have been completed. Companies develop these plans in conjunction with their creditors.
# Typically, how long do most companies take after entering Chapter 11 to present a plan of reorganization?
Most companies take several months to develop and present a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. Your lawyer will give you a more accurate estimate after speaking with you and reviewing your documents.
# Have any other companies entered Chapter 11 and successfully emerged?
Yes. Many companies in Seattle and across the country have successfully utilized Chapter 11 protection to focus on streamlining and emerging as stronger enterprises. Some examples include Macy's, Toys "R" Us, and Pathmark. Your attorney can help show you how to rebuild your business.
MGTY1 a question about the sat. business. Are sats. able to rent space to or from other satellite businesses?
Probably updating with new info.
Watch when the Q drops from symbol.
Sounds like WorldSpace is becoming a conglomerate. All these new names and businesses with the name WorldSpace included. Wonder what this puzzle looks like by the time it shows its face....;o}
We'll know something when the "Q" is dropped.
Two years ago I heard an interview with worlds richest man Carlos Slim from Mexico. He said the most important industry will be Broadband. Here we are now.
bepop12345
Sunday, September 13, 2009 7:52:51 PM
Post # of 25577
About worldspace 13-Sep-09 04:51 pm ....
Malone has big plans Could we see gov. contracts
Based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, 1worldspace™ satellites cover two-thirds of the earth and enable the Company to offer a wide range of innovative services for consumers, enterprises and governments, including distance learning, alert delivery, data delivery, and disaster readiness and response systems. 1worldspace™ is a pioneer of satellite-based digital radio services.
bepop12345 Wednesday, February 02, 2011 1:14:11 PM
Re: MGTY1 post# 2841
Post # of 4091
CNBC-Bob Pasani mentioned today that the BROADBAND area is exploding. I'll stick to my story from last year, broadband will be what media companies are going to need and want. Anybody who can offer it is sitting pretty.....JMHO
bepop12345
Sunday, February 27, 2011 11:01:24 AM
Re: MGTY1 post# 3084
Post # of 4091
This was interesting about the broadband services.
Where broadband terrestrial infrastructure are not available the demand of high speed connectivity finds in “via satellite” solutions the optimal merge among costs, performances and delivery time.
The main advantages of these solutions are:
• Complement at terrestrial connections to overcome digital divide;
• Rapid activation of the service
• High performances;
• Coverage of 100% of territory;
• Availability of the service “always on”
• Multicast services
• Flexibility of the solutions
Carlos Slim Helú, Honorary Lifetime Chairman of Grupo Carso
“Without a doubt, broadband is the nervous system of today’s new civilization, so broadband access is a top priority for our technological society. It is very important that broadband be a high-quality universal service at a low cost. Because of its health, education and knowledge benefits, among others, governments and regulatory agencies should be strongly fostering broadband development. Broadband is not a gap, but a bridge between developed and developing countries, providing access to all of the services of modern society for the well-being of the population in general.”
Speculating that WRSPQ will have something to do with how Malone deals with or if he is buying SIRI. I am wondering if they will happen at the same time.
I would think the dropping of the Q in the symbol will be the beginning of something (hoping good).
I think you are right gumsa. Getting very interesting.
There is only 42 Mil. or so in the float, so there might still be a few million left, but not much more. They would have to buy it in one lot, though. Just my opinion.
Don't forget the NOLs!!!
This sounds good. We don't know yet what they re-structuring World Space to. Should be interesting stuff coming up.
Copied this from the article:
ROBERT A. SCHMITZ
Mr. Schmitz, a co-founder of Quest Turnaround Advisors, has extensive experience as a turnaround executive, private equity investor, CEO and management consultant. Prior to founding Quest, Mr. Schmitz led the turnarounds of media, manufacturing and consumer goods businesses as a partner in a private equity firm and an international management consulting firm.
He currently serves as the Chief Restructuring Officer (“CRO”) of WorldSpace, Inc., a global satellite radio business that operated in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
It was not a liquidation bankruptcy (7), it was a re-organization one (11), there definitely is a good chance they will emerge somewhere. We don't know yet in what type of business plan. Vegas party for sure.....;o}
The "Q" in WRSPQ will drop when they no longer are in bankrupcy.