InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[Learning2vest]

Gben, the question I keep asking myself is "Why else did InterDigital disclose those licensing contracts before the Ericsson settlement, and then include the specific revenues to be paid by Nokia and Samsung as a result of that settlement?"

Whatever the reasons, those disclosures sure seem to clear the way for those firms to take an equity position in InterDigital if they wanted to. And InterDigital management has something like 40 million "authorized but not issued" shares locked in the corporate safe. Seems like all it would take is board approval to issue some of those shares for equity partnerships.

The part I like most about that idea is the buyout protection it would offer. Placing 25 to 30% of the company ownership in the strong hands of major industry partners with no more than 5 or 10% with each one would make a hostile takeover a lot tougher to do.