Kis, forget about puts your looking for instant gratification.
Short Mot, like I did yesterday, and watch it go down slowly. Mot is going to blow off $billions on their Iridium investment.
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CHICAGO, Aug 19 (Reuters) - What do Barbie dolls, Star Wars memorabilia and shares of Iridium LLC <IRIDQ.O>, the struggling satellite phone company, have in common?
You might be able to sell them as collectibles through Internet auction sites.
Shareholders of Iridium, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, have been unable to buy or sell the stock since Nasdaq halted trading on Friday.
But a message posted Thursday in an Internet chat room suggested a novel way investors might be able to exchange the shares -- put the actual stock certificates up for auction through an online service such as eBay Inc. <EBAY.O>.
"You might want to sell them on eBay. They could have market value on an auction, or numismatic value if it tanks completely," read the message posted on a Yahoo! Inc. <YHOO.O> Iridium stock bulletin board.
Trading in shares of Iridium was halted on Friday after the company filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Iridium, the first company to offer telephone service anywhere in the world via a system of 66 satellites, has struggled to sign up subscribers to its pricey service, and has fallen well short of its revenue targets. The stock last traded at 3-1/16, well below the 52-week high of 49-14/16.
Several stock analysts and traders said the idea of auctioning stock certificates was intriguing. The question is, would it be legal?
A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission spokesman said that depends on the circumstances. He said a person may sell securities to another person privately, even if the stock has been halted for trading. He declined to comment on whether auctioning stock certificates on the Internet would constitute a private transaction.
A spokesman for eBay, the San Jose, Calif.-based online service that allows people to auction Barbie dolls, Star Wars toys or just about anything else, said if a transaction were illegal in the "real world," it would not be permitted in eBay's "virtual world" either. However, he said stock certificates could be sold as collectible items.
An Iridium spokeswoman declined to comment.<<
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NEW YORK, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Satellite phone company Iridium LLC, <IRID.O>which recently filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection, disclosed on Wednesday that it had asked holders of its bonds and unsecured debt to convert their holdings into a 45 percent equity stake.
According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Washington-D.C.-based company made the request as part of a restructuring proposal to creditors Aug. 9, four days before it filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
Under the restructuring plan, Iridium asked a committee representing holders of $1.45 billion in bonds to convert their debt into a one-third ownership stake in Iridium, according to the SEC documents. The plan also seeks to reschedule Iridium's payments on $1.55 billion in bank loans.
In addition, Motorola Inc., <MOT.N>would trade its $500 million in unsecured debt for a 12 percent equity stake.
Motorola, which currently has an 18 percent equity stake in Iridium and is its largest shareholder as well as its largest vendor, has approved the plan, according to the filings. The bondholder committee neither accepted nor rejected the proposal, said Michelle Lyle, Iridium spokeswoman.
The restructuring plan would dilute the shares of Iridium's current equity holders.
The proposal also asks Motorola to defer payments on its $2.8 billion contract to manage the operations of the 66-satellite telephone system.
Additionally under the plan, Iridium asked for $500 million more from its current investors, to continue operations past the next few years.
Finally, the restructuring plan asks bank creditors, who saw Iridium default on $1.55 billion in loans Aug. 11, to extend repayments. Under the plan, Iridium would repay an $800 million senior secured loan in the year 2000 and repay $750 million in loans in 2001.
Iridium was under an Aug. 15 deadline to meet a $90 million interest payment on its bonds when it filed for bankruptcy Aug. 13, just hours after its bondholders filed an involuntary petition of bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. Trading of Iridium's shares on the Nadaq has been halted since the company filed for bankruptcy.
Motorola declined to comment on the specifics of the negotiations, said spokesman Scott Wyman.
"We are pleased to note that Iridium's (restructuring) proposal would include the substantial participation of all relevant parties," he said. Motorola has said repeatedly that it would not inject any more money into Iridium unless other backers also contributed.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola said in July it may have to record a third-quarter charge against earnings to cover its exposure to Iridium. Including loan guarantees and other investments, Motorola said its financial exposure to Iridium was $2.2 billion at the end of the second quarter, although it has built reserves to cover part of that total.
Iridium LLC is the parent company of a host of subsidiaries including Iridium World Communications Ltd. and Iridium Capital Corp.<<
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