Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
article in washington post....a few tidbits of info about the de-orbit plan....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/18/AR2010031801762.html?wprss=rss_business
No thanks. Never been a board moderator, and don't have interest in doing so. You are doing a fine job!
Thanks for the news...good! Let's hope this move is the catalyst for a restructuring deal...with common shares intact!
as in the board 'moderator'....a joke....
sure thing boss....no problem.....dreams are good! But, this is a stock board, not 'make a wish'....just kidding, but you know what I'm sayin'. Believe me, I am with you on being optimistic, that's why I haven't dumped my shares. I find it very helpful on the various boards to hear what others think, or dream, because it helps me think more critically. It's the same reason why I read all the media info on stocks I follow, even if I don't have the same point of view. It's good to hear what everyone says, naysayers, bashers, pollyannas, optimists, pessimists, bright folks, and even the occasional moron. There are tidbits of info, insight, or whatever, in all this stuff. So, I read all, absorb, and think about it. I also provide my input, especially when I see bloggers/journalists/analyst crap based on no hard facts....like that one a few weeks ago who said the final hearing for the restructure plan would be March 5. Remember? Total BS...the guy didn't properly read the court doc, and put that out as hard news fact as a media article. I have no patience for that, because, even though it's always DYDD, people make investment decisions based on irresponsible and erroneous stuff like that. It just ain't right! IMHO, just sayin'.
MGTY....I like your vision, and agree, ultimately, this stuff will be global. Will Worldspace, and common stock, survive to play in that world? As of today, there's nothing which makes that a fact. It's certainly possible, and I'm planning on holding my shares to the end, betting it will happen. But, everyone needs to chill a little with the speculation, which starts to morph into "facts". As of now, there are not a lot of real, verified, hard facts to paint a rosy picture for wrspq. This latest snafu with Liberty walking away from the table is NOT GOOD. Part of the chess game? Perhaps. I'm hopeful it is, and the de-orbit threat brings Malone back in. We'll know very soon, because wrspq has no money. If Malone stops lending them more operating cash, that's the sure fire sign he wants to liquidate. The cash burn at worldspace makes this a very short trip to resolution, tip of the hand, or some form of insight into what's happening....very soon. just sayin'.
Sorry MGTY....I don't really see the connection you are making. First, DirecTV just dumped carrying Sirius-XM, which was a negative surprise considering the Liberty-SIRI relationship. Second, the broadcast spectrum is totally different via the TV satellites and radio satellites, with bulkier equipment and dish antenna needed to receive the TV signal, whether or not it's only audio. Now, I'm no satellite engineer, so, I suppose it's possible there's a way of using similar design receivers and tiny antennas to receive audio only from the TV satellites, but I don't know that to be fact. If it were possible, then perhaps Liberty could use a portion of its TV sat bandwidth to broadcast sat radio to small receivers, but those radios would have to be new design, since the broadcast frequencies are different than radios used by siri, xm, or worldspace. But, frankly, I don't see any connection whatsover in wrspq de-orbit threat to making room for DirecTV sat radio, no matter what the technology is. There's plenty of room in earth orbit for more sats...they just have to be very well planned out.
MGTY...I agree that this is all part of the chess game. The de-orbit threat is to bring Liberty back to the table. You can tell, not only because of the action itself, but the language used in the motion document, alleging Liberty is not being cooperative, leaving wrspq no option but to bring down the sats. Will it work? Who knows! I sure hope so.
agreed....morons for sure. I just try to read all the stuff that's published about companies I follow, even if written by a moron. Unfortunately, there are plenty of morons and crooks that influence the market via their access to the media, so I want to know what they say. Take that moron at Wunderlich who bashed SIRI on bogus info on day 8 of trading over $1....totally f'd up the run, two days short of nasdaq compliance, and now they get delist letter, stock down again below .90. All because of that jerk. SIRI will bounce back, but part of me would like to go all in and sue these a-holes for racketeering. I've had enough of their crap, and ordinary investors need to fight back. To dream....back to the real world, time to review what the latest pack of morons has to say....(:
Here's a motley fool link on wrspq. Not very encouraging, but it's by their guy Munarriz, who is generally pro- Sirius XM.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/03/17/is-liberty-done-chasing-satellites.aspx
Just housekeeping to get extension from the BK court. It doesn't mean that this will be over in 30 days. It certainly could be, and I sure hope it is, but most of these filings with the court really don't mean anything to investors. The only one that has significant impact, unfortunately, is the last one about de-orbiting the sats and complaining that Liberty isn't negotiating. just sayin', IMHO and all that.
good find bepop.....that makes sense. Samara doesn't have much of a hand though. If he asks too much, Liberty walks, and picks up the assets in liquidation, not caring if the two old sats in orbit meet a flaming demise. Malone still keeps the licenses, the NOS satellite in storage, and any other equipment on hand. It's obvious worldspace thinks they have a strong card to play, so we'll soon see if it has the power they think they have.
sure hope so MGTY....that would be great!!
SIRI falling because they will be receiving nasdaq delist notice. Good buying opportunity, since they won't ultimately be delisted.
I doubt it was designed to get sp down. There aren't that many shares outstanding, so the $ is really not a lot, considering the players. But, you do bring up an interesting question as to why wrspq made a public statement. My gut tells me that they merely crafted the release knowing that when they filed the motion in bk court (to de-orbit the sats, with the complaint about how Liberty was not forthcoming), it would be followed by the media, and they would need to make a statement, which really doesn't say anything more than what is said in the court doc.
I agree magnumbp.....this is a game of chess and chicken, all rolled into one. Liberty has the most power in this game, but, a slick move by wrspq could bring this thing to a positive negotiated deal. No doubt, threatening to torch the orbiting sats is such a move by wrspq. Will Malone care? That remains to be seen...let's hope he does.
It's just business.....and potential leverage. But, Liberty probably hasn't invested that much $. The amount they've invested in cash to wrspq is only a few million. And, they probably paid cents on the dollar to buy the debt. So, as the largest creditor, they still have a lot to say in BK proceedings. They may only care about the spectrum licenses and the unused satellite sitting in a warehouse. The orbiting sats are old, and near end of life anyway. So, Malone may not give a damn if they fall to earth in a fireball. He still gets the rest, either in Ch 7 or in 11. He can refuse to give them any more $ to operate, which means, all the remaining handful of wrspq people get fired, no money to operate, so they would have to liquidate. Malone does hold the cards.
Sorry MGTY....just don't see it that way. Not that I don't think there's a strategy here, but de-orbiting to make way for new sats isn't one of them. There's no need to de-orbit other than to take down failed sats or cut operating expense. The court doc says it all: wrspq is saying they don't have the $ to maintain them safely, so, for a lousy $84k, they're going to de-orbit Mr. Malone's assets in a firey fall from space. They cite numerous cases in their brief to the court showing how other BK companies were permitted to handle assets, even though creditors didn't like what they were doing with them. So, Liberty can oppose the de-orbit plan, or the alternative sale of the sats (if a buyer were to show up). That will play out in BK court. The judge will decide, assuming Liberty doesn't acquiesce and resume talks.
I don't think so MGTY. This has nothing to do with new satellites. This is a threat by wrspq to get Liberty back to the table....'negotiate and finish the deal, or we're gonna burn up the most valuable assets'
The court document kind of says it all. Worldspace is threatening Liberty with burning up part of the assets, literally. Kinda cool......like the ugly divorce with the wife setting fire to his new Porsche that he won in the settlement. LOL. Another interesting fact is the letter from Intelsat to Worldspace is to Bob Schmitz, the turnaround guy that Liberty hired and has used in the past! So, good ole Bob is part of the threat against his ole buddy Malone.....yee ha! I may lose some $ here, but the drama is worth it! (:
Interesting wording..."termintated TRANSACTION negotiations...". What does that mean? At first, you think, damn...it's over. But...wording is everything with press releases. So, what does 'transaction' mean in this case? I have no clue, but, the use of that word in lieu of simply saying 'terminated negotiations' has some meaning. Certainly, this is not good news, and is ominous sounding, but will have to wait....again....
NEW YORK, March 16 (Reuters) - Bankrupt satellite radio operator WorldSpace Inc said on Tuesday that its lender Liberty Satellite Radio has terminated transaction negotiations between the two companies.
Liberty Satellite Radio, a unit of media mogul John Malone's Liberty Media Corp, was widely expected to seek a strategic alliance between WorldSpace and Sirius XM Satellite Radio, the New York-based company in which it owns a significant stake.
WorldSpace did not give any details of what the transaction negotiations were about. A Liberty Media spokeswoman declined to comment.
Through a subsidiary Liberty Media bought up the debt of WorldSpace last year, leading to expectations that Malone would seek to combine Sirius and WorldSpace. Sirius has 18 million subscribers in North America while WorldSpace satellite radio's subscribers are mainly in Asia and Africa.
Malone rescued Sirius from a possible bankruptcy filing last year with a $520 million loan. In return Liberty secured a 40 percent equity stake in the company.
WorldSpace said in its statement that it now awaiting information from Liberty as to its expectations as WorldSpace's secured lender with respect to the handling of Liberty's collateral.
The Silver Spring, Maryland, company said it is now planning for a potential de-commissioning of its satellites and reviewing its strategic alternatives in light of the termination of negotiations.
(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
Yes, indeed! for me, I bought in when the shares were almost worthless, so, my risk is small. I know others on this board have a boat load of high priced shares, so, I really hope it survives for their sake. For me, if it rises even to a dollar, I win big. If it wipes out, I lose very little. So, I can afford to just sit tight and hope for the best. It's literally a Vegas play in my case. I do think it will pay off for all of us, but who knows when Malone will make his move.
You are right bepop. By controlling worldspace and heavy influence into Sirius XM, Malone is effectively in control of a lot of satellite broadcast spectrum, not to mention DirecTV. However.....he has that whether or not worldspace survives intact (meaning preserving common shares as is). He could restructure worldspace to change the control configuration, wipe out shareholders, and still maintain the spectrum licenses, own the three satellites and worldspace infrastructure and technology. He would lose the value of the NOLs in that case. That is the key to all of this. Do the NOLs have sufficient value to fit into his broad strategy or not? Only Malone knows the answer, and we, unfortunately, have to wait. I am optimistic that the NOLs will rule the day, and we will all win. But, everyone needs to keep their eye on the NOL ball. That's the card we need to have played. Just sayin'.
No dates.....we just have to wait. Don't let the moron bloggers influence your thinking without thoroughly checking their 'facts', especially as it relates to their reading of BK docs. Just sayin'.
good summary article of what's happened recently, and encouraging. Hopefully, as the article says, we'll know something concrete 'in the next few weeks'.
I think SIRI is on the list of companies that are owed money by wrspq. I know I saw XM on one of the court docs, but don't recall the detail. At any rate, that is a good thing if they own shares and/or owed significant $.
It's as I said before.....March 5 hearing was NOT going to be the final restructure, only related to DIP financing. Apparently, the way this BK stuff works, they schedule hearings on the court calendar in case there are objections to the motions, and, in just about every case I've seen in this wrspq deal, the hearings are cancelled because there are no objections. Let's face it...who the hell is going to object to Liberty pumping more $ into wrspq? So, this is not the news everyone is waiting for, but, it's not bad news...it's good that Liberty is still laying out the cash. But..it does piss me off that these bloggers don't do their homework, and publish BS about the 'final hearing' without doing simple fact checking. This causes huge buzz and false hope for shareholders. Morons. I mean, if you are a reporter, being accurate should be at the core of what you do, no? If I can check this crap out in 5 minutes, WTF? jerks. just sayin'.
I'm not sure Friday is going to yield what everyone is expecting. The court docs do NOT state a final hearing as to restructure. They indicate final hearing on the issue of extending Liberty DIP financing. A couple of the internet bloggers saw 'final hearing' in the document and went viral with that as a done deal on its way. I hope that is the case, but the court docs do not support that.
Yeah, me too. I find the wunderlich downgrade of SIRI and comments in the wsj (SIRI should be worth only .25) to be without any merit, and, possibly collusion with short interests. The 'valuation' of siri based on Liberty 40% has been known for over a year, but today, on day 9 of the $1 run, these guys issue negative press following stellar earnings release only last week? WTF? well, one can only conclude collusion in my opinion...but, hey, no one's listening to the small investor. At any rate, I'm long with siri and wrspq, so, we'll see what happens in the next few weeks. still hopeful!
me too magnumbp. sucks, and based on total BS too. SIRI will bounce back...fundamentals are good.
probably because it's not really that solid...mostly conjecture from the author, and no commitment from Liberty. What we need is hard news. The soft stuff (rumors and opinion) already baked in to this sp (remember, prior to the Mel K statement in the media, it was a less than a penny). The info in this article is really the same or closely related to what Mel had said about siri, liberty, and wrspq. I think the only thing that's gonna move this puppy is a factual, hard news announcement of the restructuring plan. A positive rumor right before would do it, but, since it's in bk court, a rumor is less likely.
yeah, me too. SIRI will rebound later and close over a buck....at least I hope....need that today and tomorrow to avoid the nasdaq delisting issue by having 10 consec days over $1. Downgrade from buy to hold by a**hole at wunderlich securities isn't helping. What a moron....siri has achieved break even and cleaning up balance sheet, and this moron downgrades the stock...probably shorting it.
found this on Satwaves site this morning, a quote from a rapid tv news article. pretty interesting.
Sirius-XM WILL go global | Print | E-mail
Written by Chris Forrester
Monday, 01 March 2010 10:05
Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei has confirmed that Worldspace, which Liberty is in the process of acquiring from bankruptcy, will go global.
Mr Maffei told analysts that Worldspace has L-band spectrum access worldwide [not quite true] and that Liberty was looking to develop the now somewhat lapsed Worldspace assets.
His comments must be read in close conjunction with those of Sirius-XM, in which Liberty holds a 40% stake. Last week Sirius-XM said: “We have entered into a letter of intent with a Mexican company, ACIR DARS Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V., to pursue a license to offer satellite radio in Mexico. ACIR DARS Mexico has filed an application for a license to offer satellite radio with the Mexican government. The letter of intent contemplates us receiving a royalty from ACIR DARS Mexico as well as an option to acquire an equity interest in such Mexican business.”
The ‘not quite true’ statement concerns the UK, where Qualcomm has the L-Band terrestrial frequency rights.
An SEC ‘annual report’ filing made Feb 25 by Sirius-XM also talks of Sirius-XM’s long-held relationship with Worldspace, in particular a Technology Licensing Agreement dated January 1 1998 (and amended six months later). A key – but telling – phrase says bluntly: “Other regions. We are in discussions with various parties regarding possible joint ventures in other countries.”
It is also worth remembering how all-embracing Sirius-XM is in North America, and how these vehicle brands are just as well known outside its current operating region. “We have agreements with every major automaker — Acura/Honda, Aston Martin, Audi, Automobili Lamborghini, Bentley, BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Ferrari, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti/Nissan, Jaguar, Jeep, Kia, Land Rover, Lincoln, Lexus, Toyota, Scion, Subaru, Maybach, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mercury, MINI, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Volvo and Volkswagen — to offer either SIRIUS or XM satellite radios as factory or dealer-installed equipment in their vehicles. As of December 31, 2009, satellite radios were available as a factory or dealer-installed option in substantially all vehicle models sold in the United States,” says the SEC filing made by Sirius-XM.
As far as Worldspace itself is concerned there will be a hearing this coming Friday in a Delaware courtroom regarding the closing stages of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
© Rapid TV News 2010
March 5 is the 'final hearing' in bk court...BUT....don't misconstrue what that means. According to court docs, it's the final hearing for the motion to extend DIP financing, with NO mention of any restructure plan. We, including yours truly, jumped on the March 5 date based on an article expressing opinion and a statement that March 5 was THE final hearing. While you never know what could pop up between now and then (like changing the nature of the hearing), as of now, docs show it's not related to workout plan. Once the hearing agenda is released by the bk court, we will know if there's any change. Just sayin'.
right...not the same situation as siri, but a related opportunity for Liberty at a much lower price. The strategic link between siri and wrspq makes sense, but no one knows what form it will take. Liberty may have jumped in to this BK in order to keep out any competitors and now is figuring out what to do with it. Maffei's comments, as far as they went (still vague), were all positive for shareholders, but, no doubt, no guarantees for shareholders. Still a very high risk play, but at this sp, so what? just sayin'.
Yeah, I interpret it as a potential partnership as opposed to Liberty conquering wrspq and gutting it. I am cautiously optimistic. The fact that there are so few shares outstanding and high NOLs, is a plus.
Despite all the good news on SIRI, it too is getting a little beat up in sp. Will rebound nicely next week I think. wrspq will catch a wave if Maffei's quote about worldspace gets some maintream media ink.
That was an awesome CC.....and SIRI's earlier also excellent! I'm long on both wrspq and siri.....some big $ coming. I especially liked Maffei's 'venture capital' comment. That is very telling!
good comments...nothing specific, but ALL GOOD, here's summary:
Liberty considering relationship with wrslp as evolving relationship
now a lender via DIP financing
broader relationship being discussed, not yet resolved
Liberty considering it a Venture Capital arrangement (good!!!!!)
Worldspace has L Band spectrum most places outside US, has couple of sats in the air, evolving relationship that is not resolved yet.
Liberty about to discuss worldspace right now on the cc!!!! Here we go!
good find...can you post the link please. the info is undated.