//Analysts point out that Motorola still
stands to lose more than anyone else if
Iridium goes down. Iridium plans to pay
Motorola a whopping $2.89 billion over
the next five years for maintenance and
operations.//
That isn't the same kind of lose as the shareholders are going to suffer. The shareholder loss is a real one. Motorola's will be an opportunity cost. It looks as though Motorola can stick it to the shareholders of Iridium World - run up a big debt then foreclose in a deal with the other creditors, paying out the other creditors a pittance. Motorola can then run it at a low price per minute, make money from the handsets and the minutes since their capital contribution will be very low if any and run it into the ground over the next 4 years.
This is NOT a pretty sight. How come the analysts talk of Iridium World share price in the 20s? Dragonfly, please explain how they'll make money. I seriously don't get it.
And ICO is going to launch their money [well, somebody else's actually] into this maelstrom? The ICO shareholders backing the 10 satellites at 10,000 km have got to be crazy. At least ICO will be able to claim their system reached a higher level of operations than Iridium. Over 9,000 km higher. If they are lucky, their losses won't be at a higher level. They shouldn't bet on it.
Globalstar should demonstrate to ICO now that ICO should not even bother entering the race - then the ICO shareholders could sue the company for false pretences as the company could be shown to have ignored clear evidence that their system will fail financially. Already, the ICO managers should be preparing their defences. Deliberately launching shareholder funds into a bottomless pit is surely an offense in the USA. The SEC must think poorly of such a scheme to produce 'jobs for the boys'.
Has anyone seen an ICO business plan with price per minute, capital structure, number of minutes, risk factors and all that stuff?
Maurice
PS: OT Rant. What with USA rockets failing flat out, the USA should be glad that Bernie has shown the Chinese how to solder so that the USA can get their satellites into space. Hell, I'm happy to launch Globalstar satellites on the French rocket and those bastards already bombed our place once. It's worth the risk. I'll use the Globalstar profits to 'take out' [to coin a phrase] the Arc de Triomphe in a kind of karma unless they hand over the Rainbow Warrior criminals.
Actually, Gorby is coming here in the next couple of weeks - there is a good job waiting for him as the first President of the reconstituted United Nations. I'll put it to him that he get it started. France bombs NZ. USA bombs China [the embassy], Serbia, Iraq, Vietnam. Russia invades Czechoslovakia. China invades Vietnam. Vietnam invades Cambodia. New Zealand thought about invading Fiji but decided it wasn't worth it [the ships probably wouldn't get there anyway and the Fijians and NZ soldiers would have found it all too much trouble - so it all has been relatively peaceful]. |
