Bernard, the obstacles to a new corporte combination, spin out, sell off, change of CEO that you point out are real enough--and I'm sure there are others as well. But extreme times make for extreme measures and I have to believe the Board of Directors is carefully examining their options. Mr. Schwartz has had an outstanding, brilliant career, but it seems to me he has nevertheless forfeited the right to continue to lead Loral.
The Internet world is moving faster than BS can deal with: even when he had a much stronger hand than at present, he didn't move to 'lock up' LOR's preminent position in the satellite industry. Now someone else will do it for him, or at least so I speculate.
Someone suggested (as informed strategic thinking, NOT to start a rumor or based on inside news, etc.) that Alcatel would be a player and that seems sensible to me. I'm not as quick to dismiss McCaw--which would you rather buy, LOR or Iridium? Getting rid of SSL would be child's play. And the answer to your question: what would Gates/McCaw do with [the rest of] Loral is equally simple: use it to build the Teledesic that would otherwise never see the light of day. It's a matter of when, not if, IMO. An unfortunate, but not disastrous, turn of events for BS and the rest of Loral shareholders. kind regards, mike doyle |
